Presented at the Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta for Radio Rethink, 1992, curated by Daina Augaitis and Dan Lander.
A connected text titled The Technology of Entrapment was published in the book Radio Rethink: Art, Sound and Transmission, eds. Daina Augaitis and Dan Lander. Banff: Walter Phillips Gallery, 1994.
CREDITS
Henry See – hypercard design
Bruce Gottlieb – video
Pier Lefebvre – kneeler
Thanks to all at the Walter Phillips Gallery, especially Mimmo.
Photos by Monte Greenshields.
Scroll down for sample of confessions and REVIEWS.
RADIO CONFESSIONS
CONFESSION 1 Hello
Hello Is that my voice? Talk! Talk!
It sounds like mine. I think your voice became mine as soon as you called How could that be?
Oh, some kind of relationship that began And does it end?
It ends as soon as you hang up Are you trying to tell me something?
I think so Should I be insulted?
You should be happy, angry, insulted…. Does that make sense what you just said? I don’t think so
What is sense?
What is what? Are you nervous?
No, but I was earlier I still think you’re nervous, I think I know that you’re nervous
Yeah. I think you know everything about me Only if I want to
Do you want to? Not really. You don’t intrigue me. Does this thing ever end?
Describe yourself
I have knobby knees and a rib cage And a tattoo. I know all about it
You do? Describe it then We won’t get personal now
Why not? I don’t think it’s the time or the place
This is not a time nor a place So what is then, if it’s not a time nor a place, what exactly is it?
It’s in between In between what? Can you be a little bit more specific? Is that where you are?
That’s where I try to be, so that only few people can find me Who are you waiting for?
Somebody who can find a place and a time.
Who are you? Who am I? Just another nameless, faceless being in this planet
And… There’s lots to say that hasn’t already been said
That’s true. It’s becoming kind of empty Does this ever end?
It’s just you and me Strange. It feels like I’ve had this conversation before. Are you still you?
No. I think I’ve changed Grown within the past minutes have you?
No. I haven’t progressed or regressed, just changed You bore me.
Sometimes I bore myself too This conversation is going nowhere
I agree. Goodnight
CONFESSION 2
Testing 1,2 3… Is that my voice? Talk! Talk!
It’s been 3 years since my last confession How could that be?
I suppose I should have gone to church, but I didn’t And does it end?
Anxiety, money, anxiety Are you trying to tell me something?
Totally abstract you Should I be insulted?
I spread the Ritz Cracker with peanut butter Does that make sense what you just said? I don’t think so
Oh, sorry What is what? Are you nervous?
No, but I was earlier I still think you’re nervous, I think I know that you’re nervous
What about you? Only if I want to
Do you want to? Not really. You don’t intrigue me. Does this thing ever end?
Describe yourself
What do you want to know about me? And a tattoo. I know all about it
Can you hear me? We won’t get personal now
Why not? I don’t think it’s the time or the place
I don’t know what to do about that So what is then, if it’s not a time nor a place, what exactly is it?
Revisit the spots I once knew Can you be a little bit more specific? Is that where you are?
This is off the topic, but I saw ‘My Private Idaho’, which is really bizarre Who are you waiting for?
The idea as it dissipates
What about you? Who am I? Just another nameless, faceless being in this planet
I wonder if there’s somebody in there doing this There’s lots to say that hasn’t already been said
You won’t listen, it’s your fault Does this ever end?
The idea as it dissipates Strange. It feels like I’ve had this conversation before. Are you still you?
We’re all us Grown within the past minutes have you?
I’m just a generic type fellow You bore me.
Who’s the artist who put this together? This conversation is going nowhere
Aren’t you going to tell us a story?
CONFESSION 3
I don’t hear anyone.. oh, I see a light now Is that my voice? Talk! Talk!
Show me the on button How could that be?
What does that mean?
And does it end?
You’re talking to me or am I hearing your confession? Are you trying to tell me something?
Totally abstract you Should I be insulted?
No, you should not be insulted Does that make sense what you just said? I don’t think so
There somebody in there isn’t there? Are you nervous?
No, but I was earlier I still think you’re nervous, I think I know that you’re nervous
Can you describe yourself? Only if I want to
Are you nervous, really? Not really. You don’t intrigue me. Does this thing ever end?
Describe yourself
I feel like a comedian or something And a tattoo. I know all about it
No way We won’t get personal now
Why not? I don’t think it’s the time or the place
I don’t know what to do about that So what is then, if it’s not a time nor a place, what exactly is it?
Looks like a confessional Can you be a little bit more specific? Is that where you are?
It’s very interesting here Who are you waiting for?
Is this a dialogue with a computer, or is this a dialogue with other people?
Um.. ya , um so how are you doing today? Ya, this is wild Who am I? Just another nameless, faceless being in this planet
Weird, some chick just said who am I? There’s lots to say that hasn’t already been said
It’s becoming rather metaphysical Does this ever end?
Did you say something? Strange. It feels like I’ve had this conversation before. Are you still you?
No way Grown within the past minutes have you?
We all need contact, we all need communication You bore me
Oh, sorry. This conversation is going nowhere
See ya later.
Note:
The first confession is the original conversation between myself and a caller on CKUT-FM, Montréal Fall 1990. Confessions two and three are composites of the responses from people who interacted with the computer in the confessional of the Open Your Mouth and Let the Air Out installation during Radio Rethink.
REVIEWS
• Open Your Mouth and Let the Air Out for Radio Rethink INTER No. 54, review by Jocelyn Robert.
Un travail questionnant les relations qui s’établissent entre l’auditoire et l’animateur radio, cet étranger admis partout mais dont on ne connaît pourtant que la voix.
• Art Research Center In Budapest, review of Radio Rethink by Içagnes Ivacs.
[…] In his work écrit bruts, Christof Migone translated writings by the insane into a subjective aural reading. Speech fallen apart, sounds cut off from the words, stammers, silences and cries evoked the fragmented and disembodied sounds of Radio Thanatos. The utopia of identity either personal or that of the community broke off in this Artaudian schizophrenic theatre – where the voice strives against the body to get free – and radio manifested itself as technological presence. An installation by Migone presented as a part of Radio Rethink project was centered around the same topic. “The radio booth resembles an inanimate brain rather than a great communicator”, he says. “And radio stripped off its hardware, without a transmitter is like a confessional.” He installed a “confessional” feigning a radio booth in which a computer was talking to the audience. The sequence of questions and answers did not make up a conversation and the words spoken did not reach anybody but immediately disseminated as there was no transmitter. The person interviewed did not understand his position: he did not know where he was – in the ether or at an exhibition – and to whom he was talking. These fragments of “conversation” that lacked a context belong to the theatre of the absurd and join in the parody of communication.
