Sept. 13, 2007: 1 a.m. – Sept. 16, 2007: 11 p.m.

several Brooklyn locations

Brooklyn, NY

Based on the concept of the 1966 work by Max Neuhaus titled, Public Supply (audio) (text) -telephones can be linked to a live radio broadcast via new technologies in order to create a live dialogue between activists social groups during public demonstrations and events. Max Neuhaus's revolutionary work was sponsored by WBAI in New York City and has been recreated in other cities. communication in real time is essential to the relaying and coverage of live, current events during public demonstrations, rallies and marches. It is important to be able to have immediate media coverage of such events in order to speed content delivery as well as eliminate any buffer or editing of information that may be imposed by competing corporate sponsored media.

This system is a communication device for participants in such social demonstrations as well as a way to inform the outside public of what is happening in real time for those involved.

Conflux Festival: Conflux is the annual New York festival for contemporary psychogeography, the investigation of everyday urban life through emerging artistic, technological and social practice. At Conflux, visual and sound artists, writers, urban adventurers and the public gather for four days to explore their urban environment. People from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures come together at the festival to re-imagine the city as a playground, a space for positive change and an opportunity for civic engagement. The Village Voice describes Conflux as a “network of maverick artists and unorthodox urban investigators…making fresh, if underground, contributions to pedestrian life in New York City, and upping the ante on today’s fight for the soul of high-density metropolises.”

How it works: Telephone calls (public phones, cell phones, home phones calling a toll free number) to a main computer server are recorded and streamed in real time over the Internet. This live audio stream is also broadcast on a low power FM transmitter to the local area of the event for people to listen to via a wireless radio. If no one is calling in to make a report or statement, the stream of live content is paused and archived phone calls are broadcast over the Web and airwaves; this mechanism is used to avoid "dead air" on the radio.

http://www.confluxfestival.org/conflux2007/

LINKS

Transmission Artists