LOST TRANSMISSIONS (Talk Hard)

In this project's original installation, a pirate radio broadcast intervenes in a pubic space, creating an interruption in public movement. The sound piece was broadcast from a portable FM radio transmitter to small radios hung throughout scaffolding around NYC. The sound piece appropriates sound bites from the film "Pump Up the Volume" and mixes them with compressed and distorted recordings of current day high school students reading lines from the film. Passerby hear idealistic messages celebrating free speech and teenage rebellion, alongside diluted and distorted messages, thus drawing a parallel to the process of dilution inherent in hypermediation. The installation investigates the mediation of idealism and the possibility of engagement with the public through disruptive public art installations.