Interview with MÆKUR

How can radio respond to site-specific needs in useful and collaborative ways? To answer this, MÆKUR (Maiа Urstad, Eva Rowson and Anton Kats) track how new technology outmodes past forms, often repurposing old equipment to make new radio labs, expanding how we listen and programme. The who and why remain critical, as does sensory input – the subconscious sounds absorbed in understanding place and community. MÆKUR sets up a temporary radio lab and listening space at De Brakke Grond’s Tuinzaal in lead up to their performance at Sonic Acts.

In Conditions 2020 – A Live MÆKUR Radio Broadcast, MÆKUR transforms the space into a radio studio, playfully engaging with FM and AM broadcasting formats. They transmit several scenarios in which the radio of the future takes stage. In their speculative performance they also share excerpts from their first vinyl and digital release, Conditions: 1218 – 0719, which includes recordings from the archive gathered and improvised during residencies at Bergen Kunsthall and Lighthouse, Brighton in the past two years.

A co-production of Sonic Acts with Bergen Kunsthall & Lighthouse as part of Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

Photo Pieter Kers