1st of September: On invitation of „Le Jardin de Recherche Musicales“, Paris, Datscha Radio had the honor (and pleasure) to contribute a 30 min radio show to the line-up. Hosted by the artists Dinah Bird, Jean-Phillipe Renoult and Dr. No, and streamed via p-node.org an afternoon of radiophonic activities unfolded at Les Jardins du Ruisseau close to Porte de Clignancourt.
What is the sound of a plum dropping? In preparation of the „plum tale broadcast“ the trees in the Datscha Garden were energetically shaken, and dozens and dozens of fruits dropped onto the lawn. After removing the pits they were taken to the stove, where a pot already waited. A kitchen is not exactly the place you’d expect to set-up the gear for a radio broadcast, but well… Ms Thein shared her mike with the bubbling pot, stirring the jam-to-be with greatest attention. Ms Schaffner kept arranging the hot water cooker, the sugar and the glasses. And between the two of us we shared an ancient Japanese folk tale about a gardener and his beloved spirited plum tree. It was also a story about the uneven balance between true love and care-taking and the greed for beauty, embodied through the figure of a too ambitious samurai…
All went well and seven glasses of 2019 plum jam were filled. Thank you, Dinah, Philippe and Dr. No!
Fragrant was the night… and permeated with the sounds and reverberations of the numerous radio guests that materialised in the garden in the South of Berlin. This garden offered many paths (carefully tended by their owners Tiger Stangl, Valie Djordevic and Jochen Liedtke), and just as many approaches were taken in Datscha Radio’s quest for a ‘translation’ of scent into sound. The weather was very fine that evening, with the heat of the day still lingering in some formerly sunny spots, and the dusk that arrived after the station’s set-up was accomplished, steeped the garden and its plants in iridescent shades of continually fading blues.
Daylight fades, radio starts
“…That’s what the peony said in three
puffs of perfume”: The show’s kick-off was one of the ten flower scent poems
written especially for this occasion and played intermittently through the
night, rather like a scented station id. Written by Gabi Schaffner, they were
spoken, sung, whispered and hissed ingeniously by the New Zealand poet Hans
Kellett.
Kate had brought her hydrophones, which Niki
Matita played whilst Kate read a brief overview of Datscha Radio’s theme for
the second ‘Nightgardening’ session:
Smell comes in waves, with a breeze, it rides on the air. Just like radio.
Smell is a fleeting sensation, it lives in time, it connects directly to our memories and emotions. Just like radio.
Smells, odours, fragrances, perfumes, they are all around us. Just like radio.
An introductory walk through the garden
followed. Tina-Marie Friedrich (allgirls Berlin international) and Helen Thein
explored our location (dragging a long, long mic cable behind), conversing
about selected plants, the perfumes of their leaves and flowers, our human
sensitivities and culturally imprinted scent perception.
Scent walk with Helen Thein and Tina-Marie Friedrich
All the while more guests arrived, among
them Monika Glaser, chairwoman of the gardener’s association and her husband
Jürgen. The radio artist Jasmina Al-Qaisi accompanied by artist Helena
Otto, and the ‘maverick violinist’ Katt Hernandez as a last minute guest and
previous Datscha Radio artist. Tina talked about her research into the finer
details and cultural differences of smell perception, which led on to the
introduction of some of Datscha Radio’s open call artists, among them a piece
about the scent of rain by Ian Stenhouse. One of Niki Matita’s thematic DJ
Mixes followed.
“How is your nose”?
Looking from the outside into the window of this Treptower Datscha, we could now see Caroline McMillan, together with programmer Isabelle Wei and dancer Lena Kilchitskaya, preparing the wearable tech dress that Caroline had designed for their olfactory and experimental dance performance “Aura:Maton”.
Meanwhile, the long table in front of the terrace was decorated under supervision of the Mobile Radio duo Knut Aufermann and Sarah Washington. Wine glasses, six especially selected bottles of Moselwine, and still more guests appeared, among them Winona Lin and friends as well as the radio researcher Golo Föllmer and Kai Knörr, president of the “Studienkreis Rundfunk und Geschichte”.
“Aura:Maton” proved to be quite an
otherworldly experience. Dressed in a white dress, adorned with a head band (a
surreptitious brain wave detector), and wearing a mysterious ‘harness-minilab’,
consisting of LED lights, wires and an assortment of vials on her belly, Lena
appeared. Her face serene, she danced among the guests, graciously, stepping
forward, resting, bending, stretching out her arms. From time to time a blue
light flashed from her belly-lab and waves of scent were set free.
In
her talk, Caroline explained that dancing has an impact on the dancer’s brain waves,
which, in this case, then get stored and transformed into electronic signals
which in turn activate the scent machine the next time she dances. In the
garden, Lena was dancing to and with the scents of a dance memory. Data and
scents. McMillan says that for her, the main common traits between them lie in
the fact that both leave behind trails…
Kate Donovan and Katt Hernandez
Just a little bit later, Kate Donovan and
Katt Hernandez joined forces to play with frequencies. Kate had brought a SOMA
Ether (a so-called ‘sniffer’, which turns electromagnetic frequencies into
sound), in order to listen to the inaudible frequencies generated by the
outdoor radio studio. And Katt had brought her violin – her trusty old friend
by the name of Maude. Together they made and played with frequencies in and of
the garden.
A long table, six bottles and many tastes
Trails and tastes of a different kind were
explored in Mobile Radio’s expedition into “the extremes of Moselwine”. Mobile
Radio’s wine tasting involved six interviews with winegrowers from the region,
each stemming from a question concerning smell during the process of
wine-making. In between the interviews, one wine after another was slowly
decanted into the glasses and everybody was invited to spontaneously describe
the scent and taste. Each wine attracted its own peculiar vocabulary, from
“like my grandmother” to “cheesy” to “stale” to “woody”, “pearly” or
“calvados-like”. The performance took its course, lasting for an hour and a
half, and as such allowing ample time for Jasmina Al-Qaisi and her performance
partner Helena Otto to build a fire in preparation for their upcoming show.
“To the Belly and Back” featured delightful
scenes, musical interludes, and dialogues about food and eating and
smells. It was grounded in a very serious question: Can I trust you and how do
I know if I can trust you? Jasmina and Helena explored the answer by feeding
each other with eyes closed, food and non-food from the grill and further
afield, wrapped in foil or paper or plastic or nothing. Their trustful exchange
culminated in offering each other old (but clean!) socks to smell, which they’d
secretly filled with fragrant contents from the garden.
Studio view from the window…
Time for more coffee, one or two scent
poems, for some guests to make their way home, for open call compositions, and
for “The Scent of Water”, a preproduction initiated by Helen Thein, based on a
(local) water degustation with the American scientist Christy Spackman. By now
we had reached 3 am in the morning.
“Olfactophobia” is the irrational fear of
smells that can go so far that some people can’t even bear to think of certain
smells without suffering actual panic attacks. Niki Matita presented a radio
piece of that same name, that probed deeply into this special psychic
condition.
Kate Donovan on the garden path
Armed with a walkie-talkie, Kate Donovan
then disappeared down the main path to the end of the garden. From under the
colourful garden lights she read an excerpt from the novel “The Fountains of
Neptune” by Rikki Ducornet, taking listeners into the mind of the protagonist,
who had also disappeared into a strange and dreamy world of garden, meditation,
and mastication… “I could not help but think that if time had a smell it would
be like this.”
Sarah Washington: Under influence
We still had a lot on our plate to present
to our listeners: Niki Matita’s interview with Nicolle Schatborn of Keuken van
het Ongewenst Dier in Amsterdam about the “Smell of Dead Bodies”, more open
call contributions, and a fantasy sound tale in French about a scented lichen
in Paris, read by Julia Drouhin. Sarah and Kate agreed to read the English
translation together before the French piece was played, and the way they
rendered the story had a deep impact on all the present listeners.
The sun is rising
By 5am the skies were slowly lightening up in fluffy greys. At a quarter past, the time for our morning garden walk had come. Gabi, Tina and Kate went down the garden path, slightly tipsy from lack of sleep but happy to lean towards the garden plants again, to inhale their morning scents and the fragrance of a fresh day, and to greet the first rays of the sun that came forth behind the neighbour’s apple trees. Thanks to Udo Noll who provided for our streaming on his server.
Datscha Radio is looking forward to welcome you on its second iteration of Night Gardening! As widely sorted as garden chores might be, depending on weather, the gardener’s mood, prevalent thriving plant species, surprise guests, and time of the day, our excursion into the world of “Frequencies and Fragrances” will follow no fixed time schedule. We’ll drift with the perfumes of the night.
Yet, as a general lead, here is some information about the artists of that night and their olfactory involvements (alphabetical order!).
Caroline McMillan: Aura:maton. Live performance.
“Aura:maton is an internet-connected, olfactory wearable tech dress. In an age of vast desert landscape, endless concrete towers, tunnels and grime, memories exist without experience, data without an object. All data content is mediated through shiny, yet somewhat clunky technologies. The dancer’s brainwave activity prompts a perfume accord, a de-extinction of lost rain released algorithmically in collaboration with AI for infinite variations of physical memory. Submerged in memories of petrichor, biological traces of the scent of rain after a long period of dry weather.”
McMillan’s research interests include artificial
intelligence, soft robotics, bio-computation, technofeminism and haute couture
textile techniques. Taking a philosophical approach, intuitive interactions
with technology are derived from nature.
Christy Spackman: The Scent of Water. With Helen Thein. A visit to the Datscha Garden features the probing of local waters. Please keep a sample of your local tap water at hand. Christy Spackman is currently Assistant Professor, Art/Science Nexus, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, @ASU. Studying the taste of water, how sensory science shapes consumer perception, and the creation of tastelessness. Fermenter of things.
Gabi Schaffner:La Lichen Parfumée. With Julia Drouhin. A weird story and a weirder sound piece. Based on several failed experiments in the transposition of plant’s chemical ingredients into random melody, lost and found field recordings and the sound and scents of a waffle iron. (Lan: F)
Hans Kellett/Gabi Schaffner: 10 S|Cents Poems Hand Kellet is an artist and poet from New Zealand, based in Berlin. In 2017 he was “Poet in Residence” at the Datscha Radio Festival “Plots and Prophecies.
Why not sing
poems when the theme is the “translation” of scent waves into sound waves? The title of the series is
derived from a genre of street poetry where poets create verses on the fly for
little money. The New Zealand poet and artist Hans Kellett rendered them
ingeniously musical.
Jasmina Al-Qaisi with Helena Otto take synesthesia to the belly and back, inspecting different fragrances of the night garden by fabricating an imaginary of the darkness around plants and women working with plants. In between days, at night, two girls meet to tell each other secret mingling and mixing love for food with other bodily forms of love. Burning, from sweating to smoking, burning from erasure to the unforgettable is a starting point for a fair tales and giving noise to the nose. For NACHTGÄRTNERN [NIGHT GARDENING] at Datscha Radio, Al-Qaisi and Otto will burn, smell, murmur, rhyme and dine ON AIR.
Helen Thein: Coordination, Logistics, Culinary Support, Documentation, Press and Social Media. She’ll join Tina-Marie in her floral explorations.
Julia Drouhin: Lent her voice to “La Lichen Parfumée”. She is a radio artist from Tasmania, born in France.
Kate Donovan: Radio artist Kate Donovan will explore the human-generated electromagnetic frequencies in the garden, using various devices to make them audible.
Katt Hernandez: brings her violin to the garden Katt Hernandez is a maverick violinist, composer and improviser. One of her compositions was also featured in our “Night of the Nightingales” on the 30th of April this year.
Michael Schwieger: Introduction of a sound piece by him. He makes sounds from air/dust/perfume sensors. He says:
“I think I’ll combine dust sensor and the airquality sensor.”
Mobile Radio (Knut Aufermann & Sarah Washington): Flur-Funk: eine olfaktorische Reise durch die Extreme des Moselweins. Mobile Radio was established as a travelling project to build upon our work across Europe in the fields of radio and sound art which had arisen during the three years that we helped to establish the London art radio station Resonance 104.4FM. For this night, six bottles of finest Mosel wines will challenge our sensual and vocabulary – interspersed with short interviews with the viniculturists themselves.
Niki Matita will present two pieces as well as a hand-picked selection of songs about olfactory sensations.
Smelling A Dead Body Ein Interview von Niki Matita mit Nicolle Schatborn von der “Küche des Unerwünschten Tieres” entstand in ihrer Küche auf dem Gelände der Ateliersiedlung Nieuw en Meer in Amsterdam während sie eine Brandgans ausnahm.
Olfactophobia Ein assoziatives Hörstück von Niki Matita über die unangenehmen Seiten des Riechens zur Komposition “Mes Odeurs Préférées“ der kanadischen Komponisting Joane Hétu (mit freundlicher Genehmigung)
Tiger Stangl and Tina-Marie Friedrich (allgirls international berlin art) Greatest thanks is owed to Tiger Stangl who is hosting Datscha Radio in her garden. Apart from being a 200 percent gardener and a graphic artist, she has been curating together with Ms Friedrich the allgirls gallery since 1992.
Tina-Marie will
act as the garden’s smell explorer, probing the nocturnal scents and vibes of plants
and place and render her sensations to our willing audience.
Datscha Radio is looking forward to welcome you on its second iteration of Night Gardening! As widely sorted as garden chores might be, depending on weather, the gardener’s mood, prevalent thriving plant species, surprise guests, and time of the day, our excursion into the world of “Frequencies and Fragrances” will follow no fixed time schedule. We’ll drift with the perfumes of the night.
Yet, as a general lead, here is some information about the artists of that night and their olfactory involvements (alphabetical order!).
Caroline McMillan: Aura:maton. Live performance.
“Aura:maton is an internet-connected, olfactory wearable tech dress. In an age of vast desert landscape, endless concrete towers, tunnels and grime, memories exist without experience, data without an object. All data content is mediated through shiny, yet somewhat clunky technologies. The dancer’s brainwave activity prompts a perfume accord, a de-extinction of lost rain released algorithmically in collaboration with AI for infinite variations of physical memory. Submerged in memories of petrichor, biological traces of the scent of rain after a long period of dry weather.”
McMillan’s research interests include artificial
intelligence, soft robotics, bio-computation, technofeminism and haute couture
textile techniques. Taking a philosophical approach, intuitive interactions
with technology are derived from nature.
Christy Spackman: The Scent of Water. With Helen Thein. A visit to the Datscha Garden features the probing of local waters. Please keep a sample of your local tap water at hand. Christy Spackman is currently Assistant Professor, Art/Science Nexus, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, @ASU. Studying the taste of water, how sensory science shapes consumer perception, and the creation of tastelessness. Fermenter of things.
Gabi Schaffner:La Lichen Parfumée. With Julia Drouhin. A weird story and a weirder sound piece. Based on several failed experiments in the transposition of plant’s chemical ingredients into random melody, lost and found field recordings and the sound and scents of a waffle iron. (Lan: F)
Hans Kellett/Gabi Schaffner: 10 S|Cents Poems Hand Kellet is an artist and poet from New Zealand, based in Berlin. In 2017 he was “Poet in Residence” at the Datscha Radio Festival “Plots and Prophecies.
Why not sing
poems when the theme is the “translation” of scent waves into sound waves? The title of the series is
derived from a genre of street poetry where poets create verses on the fly for
little money. The New Zealand poet and artist Hans Kellett rendered them
ingeniously musical.
Jasmina Al-Qaisi with Helena Otto take synesthesia to the belly and back, inspecting different fragrances of the night garden by fabricating an imaginary of the darkness around plants and women working with plants. In between days, at night, two girls meet to tell each other secret mingling and mixing love for food with other bodily forms of love. Burning, from sweating to smoking, burning from erasure to the unforgettable is a starting point for a fair tales and giving noise to the nose. For NACHTGÄRTNERN [NIGHT GARDENING] at Datscha Radio, Al-Qaisi and Otto will burn, smell, murmur, rhyme and dine ON AIR.
Helen Thein: Coordination, Logistics, Culinary Support, Documentation, Press and Social Media. She’ll join Tina-Marie in her floral explorations.
Julia Drouhin: Lent her voice to “La Lichen Parfumée”. She is a radio artist from Tasmania, born in France.
Kate Donovan: Radio artist Kate Donovan will explore the human-generated electromagnetic frequencies in the garden, using various devices to make them audible.
Katt Hernandez: brings her violin to the garden Katt Hernandez is a maverick violinist, composer and improviser. One of her compositions was also featured in our “Night of the Nightingales” on the 30th of April this year.
Mobile Radio (Knut Aufermann & Sarah Washington): Flur-Funk: eine olfaktorische Reise durch die Extreme des Moselweins. Mobile Radio was established as a travelling project to build upon our work across Europe in the fields of radio and sound art which had arisen during the three years that we helped to establish the London art radio station Resonance 104.4FM. For this night, six bottles of finest Mosel wines will challenge our sensual and vocabulary – interspersed with short interviews with the viniculturists themselves.
Niki Matita will present two pieces as well as a hand-picked selection of songs about olfactory sensations.
Smelling A Dead Body Ein Interview von Niki Matita mit Nicolle Schatborn von der “Küche des Unerwünschten Tieres” entstand in ihrer Küche auf dem Gelände der Ateliersiedlung Nieuw en Meer in Amsterdam während sie eine Brandgans ausnahm.
Olfactophobia Ein assoziatives Hörstück von Niki Matita über die unangenehmen Seiten des Riechens zur Komposition “Mes Odeurs Préférées“ der kanadischen Komponisting Joane Hétu (mit freundlicher Genehmigung)
Tiger Stangl and Tina-Marie Friedrich (allgirls international berlin art) Greatest thanks is owed to Tiger Stangl who is hosting Datscha Radio in her garden. Apart from being a 200 percent gardener and a graphic artist, she has been curating together with Ms Friedrich the allgirls gallery since 1992.
Tina-Marie will
act as the garden’s smell explorer, probing the nocturnal scents and vibes of plants
and place and render her sensations to our willing audience.
We are very proud that both Soundart Radio and Resonance Extra will take over our night of the Frequencies and Fragrances from sunset of the 8th of August till sunrise of the 9th of August.
We are very proud that both Soundart Radio and Resonance Extra will take over our night of the Frequencies and Fragrances from sunset of the 8th of August till sunrise of the 9th of August.
Hey hey, the pink peony has something to tell – but what? Totally new and in the editing process are now ten poems about flower scents, sung the day before yesterday by the New Zealand artist Hans Kellett. Voice and scent, breathing out and breathing in… Doesn’t it make sense to put words about fragrances into song? So, the (snap) dragon as/pirates in melody and modulation, and the opium poppy turns to whispered powder coloured in F sharp and treble B.
That day, still more sounds were added to my little scent recording box: percussion improvs by the Hamburg troubador Felix Schröder, who had freshly arrived from Finland and brought out his flute and tambourine. What will emerge from this we’ll hear on August 8th too.
All 10 |S|Cent Poems were created in the Datscha garden ( – the pun is owed to a tradition of street poetry where poets create poems for passers-by on the fly for little money).
Parallel to Hans Kellett’s song pieces there will also be a woman’s voice: the Romanian radio artist Jasmina Al-Qaisi is arready all set to sniff at the papers.
10 |S|Cent Poems Poems: Gabi Schaffner Voice: Hans Kellett