Transceiver Radio

Curated by Joshua Gamma

On View and On Air
May 3 – June 8, 2019

Transceiver Radio—a collaboratively produced experiment in radio as cultural commons, simulcasting new work by over a dozen D.C. & Baltimore-based artists. 

Featuring: Mollye Bendell, Erick Antonio Benitez + Jonathan Rodman, Hoeteps & Babby, Nikilad, Luke Ikard, León City Sounds, Rachael London, Radio CPR, Justin Stafford, Hayden Right, Uptown Art House, We Act Radio, Anu Yadav, and more!

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Transformer and guest curator Joshua Gamma invite you to tune-in to Transceiver Radio—a collaboratively produced experiment in radio as cultural commons, simulcasting new work by over a dozen D.C. & Baltimore-based artists. 

"We at Transceiver Radio ground our ethos in community radio’s legacy, both as a public platform full of radical potential and as an alternative to both government and corporate-funded media. Community radio is volunteer-run, often cooperatively owned, and open to contributions by anyone with something to say and a willingness to pitch in. Its participatory nature necessitates communication: listeners become broadcasters become listeners. Due to its grassroots growth pattern and the geographic limitations of radio waves, community radio facilitates the development of local identities, especially musical cultures. Transceiver Radio embraces this hyper locality through participation by artists committed to the cultures of both D.C. and Baltimore, and through a public request-for-proposal process."
- Curator, Joshua Gamma

From this spirit comes the work of the artists in Transceiver Radio, artists who continue to find revelation in the model of the community radio station and the figure of the deejay. These artists seize the means of media production—using broadcast as a means to empower diasporic communities through music, to amplify the voices of those who feel they are not being heard, and to insert them into the electromagnetic spectrum in order to claim it as public space. 

Transceiver Radio draws inspiration from current D.C. community radio stations like We Act Radio in Anacostia and those recently departed such as Radio CPR of Mt. Pleasant. We stand in solidarity with their fight against displacement—for space “in the air and on the block,” as Radio CPR’s Amanda Huron puts it—by retransmitting broadcasts from both We Act and Radio CPR over the run of the project.

Find TRANSCEIVER RADIO on the airwaves, LIVE in person at Transformer (1404 P Street, NW Washington, DC 20005), and online at www.transceiverradio.org.

EXHIBITION PROGRAMMING

Saturday, April 20 , 9:00 PM–1:00 AM
The Transceiver Radio Pre Party
Feat. performances by James Nasty, Nikilad, Hayden Right, JStash, & Deejay Gamma
Softhouse @ The Copy Cat
1501 Guilford Ave, Baltimore, MD 21202

Friday, May 3, 6:00–9:00 PM
Opening Reception
Feat. a performance by Hoeteps & Babby
Transformer - 1404 P Street NW, Washington, DC 20005

Saturday, May 11, 7:00–10:30 PM
Bollymore
A D.C. takeover by the Baltimore-based South Asian arts collective focusing on creating spaces of fellowship and exchange amongst the South Asian diaspora.
Feat. performances by Nikilad, Jacob Marley, Kunj, & Thammudu

Saturday, June 8, 6:00–9:00 PM
Closing Reception
feat. a LIVE EP recording session and broadcast

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS

For complete programming, schedule stay tuned to www.transceiverradio.org. All programming hosted at Transformer [1404 P St NW] unless otherwise noted.

THURSDAYS

5:00–7:00 PM
Hot Platters Happy Hour
Sponsored by Hill Prince
Feat. various DJs including JStash, Baby Alcatraz, De La 500, Nikilad, Jack Inslee & more

FRIDAYS

1:30–2:30 PM
WLIX
Baltimore-based artist Mollye Bendell hosts a casual, yet slightly-twisted, amalgamation of audio treats riffing on standard radio station programming. Tune in for traffic, weather, news, travel, domestic and foreign correspondence, and much more!

2:30–3:00 PM
Sprouts
Features place-based audio pieces by Baltimore artist and radio producer Rachael London. Through magic and sound, the program features shorts about unique grassroots community initiatives that connect people. Stories include: Students from Perkins Housing in East Baltimore process imminent displacement in their neighborhood through interviews with their community elders. Seniors in rural Maine’s Lincoln County support each other in the face of isolation through a self-organized driving initiative. A black-owned community art space and technology shop in central Baltimore that is an oasis for black male video game enthusiasts. And more!

3:00–4:00 PM
Radio CPR
Compilations of Radio CPR recordings from the D.C. Punk Archive at the D.C. Public Library. From 1998–2017, Radio CPR served as a vital public platform for residents of the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of D.C. Formed in part as a reaction against live music bans imposed upon older, mostly immigrant residents by newer, more affluent, white residents, Radio CPR’s fight to amplify marginalized voices still resonates.

4:00–5:00 PM
De La 500
Hosted by artist and musician Erick Antonio Benitez aka Pájaro de la Selva. Series features conversations with and performances by experimental sound practitioners including Avery Gabbiano [artist, organizer], Bonnie Jones [sound & text artist, co-founder of High Zero], Michelle Luong [poet, guzheng player, violinist], Alex Silva [sound engineer, composer], Renz Balagtas & Gage Branda [of Art Pros podcast], and DYYO LIVE [musician, performance artist]

5:00–6:00 PM
Station to Station
Artist and musician Hayden Right speculates on radio’s potential as public art with a series of proposed broadcasts for the Maryland Transit Administration’s radio station WTTZ-LP 93.5 FM, a station the MTA pipes into Lite Rail stations across Maryland. The broadcasts include site-specific sound collages of music, field recordings, oral histories, and historical texts.

SATURDAYS

1:00–3:00 PM 
Sonido Tropical
All vinyl DJ sets featuring records from South America and the Caribbean. León City Sounds proudly broadcasts underrepresented genres of “Latin Music”—musical genres that for many years were discredited as merely music of the working class.

4:30–6:00 PM
Sentient Planet
A Baltimore-based, all-POC DJ event and mix series highlighting the global sounds and niche club genres the DJs feel connected to. Transceiver Radio proudly presents the inaugural presentation of Sentient Planet as a radio program hosted by founder Nikilad! Nikilad embodies the role of the DJ as community organizer and amplifier—seeing music as a crucial communal experience.

TRANSFORMER EXHIBITION HOURS
Wednesday–Saturday, 12:00–6:00 PM and by appointment.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Joshua Gamma is a curator and designer based in Baltimore, Maryland. He has lived a nomadic life, first due to his father’s service in the U.S. Coast Guard—growing up primarily in Louisiana and Texas—and later, due to his own service in the U.S. Army. Gamma’s curatorial work lives at the crossroads of art, design, music, activism, history, and folklore. He sees his role as that of an ally, an amplifier, and a co-laborer with the artists and activists he works with. Transceiver Radio is Gamma’s thesis exhibition for his MFA in Curatorial Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).


A SPECIAL THANK YOU to the Transceiver Radio Sponsors: D.C. Public Library Punk Archive, Good Wood, MICA Curatorial Practice, We Act Radio, Radio WICV, & Hill Prince!