Broadcast announcement – January 1. to 8. 2008 – 88.8MHz Ljubljana – Slovenija
the project
RadioZone is an intermedia project, which employs the space of a public radio frequency. The aim of the project is to constitute a platform – a legal project radio frequency for contemporary art – and establish communication in public space for authors and users of contemporary art. RadioZone provides for the constitution of space of contemporary art. It is a project radio, which goes on the air every now and then, for only a limited period of time, and is intended to processing, exhibiting, broadcasting and commenting contemporary art. RadioZone acts in an intermedia context, employing the medium of radio for interventions into public space. The archive of broadcasts is regularly updated and can be found on the project’s web page.
The project radioZone opens up the questions of free accessibility of the media space. (1) An ever-increasing commercialization of the radio medium results in the omission of contents that have not yet entered the capitalist lobby. The project thus opens up questions about the possibility for emergence of different contents in the context of the radio. (2) The aim of the project is to intervene in an active and engaged way into the popularization of contemporary art. At the same time, the project endeavors to acquire new audiences, as contemporary art is often criticized for addressing merely a small segment of the public.
In the times when the spaces for contemporary art are being reduced, the radioZone inhabits a fresh, still “unconquered” public space – the radio airwaves.
What is a temporary radio frequency? Post and Electronic Communications Agency of the Republic of Slovenia provides for a possibility to obtain a temporary frequency for 14 days at the most, i.e. as an event radio, without having to register with the Ministry of Culture. RadioZone is using this possibility. Further, as far as the general media space situation is concerned, the facts are the following: space is not unlimited, and the area of radio frequencies will reach its limits in the next few years. Thus, it is of vital importance that the project like RadioZone plays the game at this stage and participates in obtaining the temporary frequency. With continuous project activities, RadioZone aims to sustain the zone that would enable free access to radio airwaves for noncommercial contents. It is an indisputable fact that when all the frequencies are distributed – and at present, they are predominantly distributed for commercial purposes – the area of publicly available frequencies will be closed. What will happen after the space (of publicly available frequencies) is closed is undoubtedly a matter of speculation. Still, it is highly probable that the digitalization – in comparison to television – will not come about so quickly.
