8 degrees, rain, wind gusts at 37 km/h: A perfect day to make radio outside next to a river and a pine tree! The air… was… wet!

Scheduled for today at 12 was the “Air Nets” performance by the artist Inari Virmakoski at the Jakkukylä suspension bridge some 5 km away.  We decided to split up: Ms Schaffner would stay at the station, watching the weather and tending guests and sound art works; Ms Friedrich would go, see the performance and report via telephone into the radio mic.

Radio guest of the day was Kai, who punctually appeared at 11:30. Offering him a glass of cold water seemed somehow superfluous, and we started our talk with a pronunciation exercise of his surname: LATVALEHTO. (I remember him telling me a much much longer version of this one which I looked up from the internet.) Kai Latvalehto knows the region well, having moved  over from Sweden to the region of Ii at the age of 13.

We talked about the weather, climate change (“Black Christmas” even in the North in 7 out of 10 years) and his work as a project manager of the Kripa-project/Northern AiR.

The Kripa project aims to create permanent supporting structures for the field and to increase the international competence for the local cultural actors in Ostrobotnia. It is a part of the Rural Development Programme for Mainland Finland, funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Currently there exist six residency location, namely in Ii, Kuusamo, Hailuoto_, Raahe, Oulu and Kärsämäki.

I asked for the website, and here it is: https://www.northernair.fi/en/

Shortly after he left, the phone rang. There was Tina reporting about the preparations of Inari’s performance: constant drizzle of rain, people with umbrellas in various colors, the curators shepherding the artloving crowd of ca. 30 people, a bridge spanning the river, a camera team on location… and amidth it, dressed in a shining yellow rain coat, the most wonderful looking artist, holding a mass of white material in her arms.

From the bridge itself “Air Nets” were dangling down and dancing in the rain gusts… just like giant “Jelly fish”, Tina reported.

The connection broke and kept on breaking during the telephone transmission. In between, the following works from the open call were presented:

• Joan Schumann: Shimmer & Loop
• The Square Root of Negative Two: Vapor
• Sebastian Pafundo: Gûlgaltâ = Calvariae = Calvario.
• Richard Zeiss: It’s a beautiful rain
  And the first episode of
• TzuHuan_Lin_How’s the Weather ep1-4: Bad Weather in Puerto Rico

By the time Ms Friedrich reappeared from the expedition, I was thoroughly frozen over. And she too. The station was packed into the box, the ‘air of Ii’ microphones activated and off we went in search for some hot hot hot cups of tea at the Kulturikauppila.

The weather forecast had shown a rain warning, yet the day started with bright sunshine and  stayed like this during our very first broadcast at 11 am at the Lähti park in Ii.

Our scheduled guests for this transmission were the curators of the art Ii Biennal, but! Propped up in the birdhouse our air on air mics picked up a different sound (different from the rustling wind in the pine trees, birches and the grass and the river): a song!

Along the pathways of the park a girl in a wheelchair and a social worker approached us speedily. As it turned out, Miia loves to sing. And she loves radio music, concerts and more singing.

The artist’s park of Ii is situated close the towns municipal center. There is the hospital, pharmacy, job center, retirement home and a support center for people with special abilities.

Later that morning we were joined by another radio-hunry group (we still had not started on our show), Paula, Jonas, Susanna, Timo, Sanna and Sirpa. Sirpa too proved to be a lovely singer. We chatted on about singing and our forthcoming program and the Art Biennal.

Of course, the radio day had then just started. You will read more about it in due time. This is it for now.

Blue and translucent as the air in Ii the violets bloom in the meadows: Yes, it is still late spring here. And just as translucent and glittering are the 28+ compositions Datscha Radio received from all corners of the world as contributions to our “Air ‘in Air’ program, broadcast between the 15^th and the 19^th of June.

Pieces shorter than one can hold one’s breath and pieces with enough oxygene to survive a trip into space. There are ventilators, flutes, noses in marriage with microphones, extensive compositions, ‘ear plays’, airy choirs and every now and then a musical evaporation  of voices into the hues and blues.

Datscha Radio is very much looking forward to present the following international artists (here in alphabetical order):

• Castelló_Domínguez Rangel_Moreno
• Cenk Bekdemir
• Charlotte Law
• Chelidon Frame
• Dirk Hülstrunk
• Elisabeth Shores
• Eva Sjuve
• Gabriele de Seta
• Hagai Itzenberg
• Hans Castrup
• Ian Joyce
• Isto Rahkila
• Jaakko Autio
• Joana Jardim & Filipe Miranda
  Jussi_Alaraasakka
• KAZUYA_ISHIGAMI
• La Claud
• Lauren Wong
• Lucas Norer
• Martin Virgili
• Peter Courtemanche
• Roberto_D’Ugo
• Sebastian Pafundo
• Sol Rezza, Franco Falistoko
• Stephen Shiell
• Steve Transcoder
• Stuart_Mellor
• The Square Root of Negative Two
• Tiger Stangl
• Tzu Huan Lin & Campbell Watson
• Voice Changer
• Wilfried Hanrath

We are delighted to welcome you to “Air ‘on Air’! Thank you for sending us your works!

Due to the extraordinary varying time span of the different works we are still in the process of deciding how to implement them into the running schedule. State of things currently:

Pieces up to ca. 15-20 minutes will be presented in our shows. Longer works will be grouped into ‘Special Hours’ and broadcast either before and after those, with due credits given after respectively before.

Open Call: Air on Air
Datscha Radio will broadcast from the 8^th Art Biennale in Ii, Finland. From June 15-19, 2022.

About

Art Ii Biennial addresses current themes, participates in the public discussion through the methods of art and boldly combines the rich cultural heritage of Ii with contemporary art.

The main focus of the event is ecological, economical, social and cultural sustainability.

This year’s theme is In the Air. How can the interconnected immateriality of air be communicated using the methods of art.

Text: https://artii.fi/

Broadcasting  about and  listening  to  ‘just  air’  seems  to  be  an  unusual  concept.  This  is  mainly  because  we  take  air  for  granted.  Actually,  it  is  not.  The  next  planet  with  a  probability  of  having  an  atmosphere  breathable  for  our  species  lies  159  lightyears  in  a  distance. 

Datscha Radio’s 2022 event “Air on Air” will present a 24/5 hour radio stream of the air in Ii. For three hours each day we will invite artists and locals alike into our studio to talk about air and present selected works from the open call. For the remaining hours a microphone will transmit the atmospheres of Ii. 
“Air on Air” will happen from the 16th to the 19th of June 2022, we will be broadcasting directly from the park of the Biennal, close to the banks of the river Iijoki. The broadcasts can be heard online on datscharadio.de and via micro FM on the grounds of the Biennale.

The Call

Most  people  consider  air  sound  as  boring,  since  it  contains  not  much/redundant/ uninteresting  information.  The  contrary  might  be  true.  Air  does  not  only  form  the  background  of  anything  we  perceive  by  our  sense  of  hearing:  It  constitutes  the  very  precondition  of  why  we  hear  at  all.  There  is  no  transmission  of  sound  in  empty  space.   

What  travels  empty  space  and  almost  any  space  though,  is  radio.  In  the  shape  of  electromagnetic  waves,  radio  frequencies  have  been  with  the  cosmos  from  its  very  beginning…  and  they  travel  on  forever,  no  matter  whether  they  are  emitted  by  cosmic  explosions,  radioactive  matter,  microwave  ovens,  mobile  phones,  or,  in  that  instance,  by  Datscha  Radio. 

Let us broadcast your ‘airborne’ compositions and sonic musings together under the midsummer skies of Northern Finland. Datscha Radio is looking forward to your radiophonic input.

How to

• Please send your files via wetransfer to info@datscharadio.de. Air
• Please send as MP3 in 192-300 mbits
• Label your tracks: name_surname_title
• Do not (!) send any links to downloads. Do not send your work as mail attachment. Thank you!
• Please provide a pdf with two or three lines (400 spaces max) each about the piece and its relevance for the theme. Two or three lines (400 spaces max) about yourself, including a website if desired. 
• Add a line as to whether you agree with having your broadcast work archived with Datscha Radio’s online documentation. 
• Please put “Air on Air” as a subject line.
• Deadline: May 28, 2022

What Datscha Radio can offer

Datscha Radio works on a non-commercial basis, therefore we cannot reimburse you for your valuable time and work. Instead, what we have to offer is this:

• your work will be presented within the frame of the Art Biennal Ii 15-19 June, locally on FM,and worldwide on stream
• a radio art platform for discovery, exchange and networking
• sustainability: the documentation of “Air on Air” will be archived and made accessible on mixcloud (your agreement provided)

All copyrights stay with the artists.