Andrea Langlois et al - Islands of Resistance - Pirate Radio in Canada

140 • islands of resistance
may be live or recorded, bringing with it an air of mystery. An example
of an artist who does this is Aiyanna Maracle, a trans woman who
has been influential in my own transition. While at the point of her
life where she was transitioning from male to female, Maracle did a
performance where she wore a radio under her clothes and told stories
about her life before transitioning. Periodically, as she told the stories,
a masculine voice would come from the radio, representing her inner
voice. The voice would say things like “put on some pants!” or “act
like a man.” The sound represented the norms imposed upon her as
well as her own internalized transphobia. As her friend, I knew of the
struggles that she had to overcome in her transition, and when watching
her perform I saw her strength. She helped me to realize that even
if I could not completely free myself from those omnipresent voices
that dictate absolutism in gender identity, I could at least be mindful
of their power and be aware of my ability to follow a different path.
Pirate radio is a powerful tool for performances. With low-power
transmission, radio can become a character in the work. The radios
that Kathy Kennedy’s singers carry in her large radio choral work (see
Chapter 16) are an important part of the whole piece, complementing
the voices in the choir. Likewise, in one of my periodic performances,
For the Birds, I use mobile transmission to explore radio art. For the
performance, I put a transmitter onto the back of my bicycle with a
battery and an audio player, which supplies a soundtrack of collected
bird recordings. I put a sign on the back of the bike telling people to
tune into my frequency, and ride through busy bumper-to-bumper
downtown traffic. The concept behind the broadcast is for motorists
to tune their radios into the bird-sound station. There, they hear the
sounds that would be audible if they were not encased in their noisy
cars, but free to walk or cycle up the street.
Radio can also bring the audience into the work, making them an
integral part of it. Low-power pirate radio can give the viewer the
ability to become an antenna, a trick I have used in installations.
For example, the radio receiver emits noise until the audience member
positions themselves in place of the antenna, at which point the
signal comes through. They can also control the reception by their
movement. The receiver picks up the nearest transmitter in situations
where there are multiple transmitters that are all tuned to the same
frequency. In this regard, I have created several installations where
people are given a radio and must move around a space to find the dif-