Electromagnetic Sound Art - Disinformation “National Grid” - Royal College of Art - Dec 1996

Original promotional graphic for the “National Grid” performance by Disinformation, staged at the Royal College of Art, London, 5 Dec 1996. This second ever presentation of “National Grid” was performed live by sound artist Joe Banks, and organised for the RCA by Jon Wozencroft. “National Grid” was performed using a VLF converted shortwave radio, to intercept and to make audible the ambient electromagnetic waves, which are generated by live mains electricity, and which surround us, normally undetected, in the environment. The fundamental resonant frequency of mains alternating current is standardised at 50Hz, however, in performance, the output signals from the radio were tuned to different musical frequencies using the upper and lower sideband filter (effectively a kind of electronic pitch-shifter or ring-modulator) on the radio. Later versions of “National Grid” used live outputs from mains electrical transformers as the source of the 50Hz signal.

The first “National Grid” performance at club Disobey, 10 Oct 1996, received publicity in The Evening Standard newspaper, and in the MTV music magazine “Blah Blah Blah” (the documentation will be posted here in due course).

This graphic also appears on page 25 of “Noisegate” magazine, issue 5, published 1996. The magazine also features a review of a sound installation by Christina Kubisch at the Sonambiente Festival, Berlin, in 1996 (which seems to have featured amplified street sounds and construction site noise), and features an advertisement for a performance by Christina Kubisch, scheduled for the following year, to be held at the Goethe Institut in London. Nearly a decade later, Christina Kubisch presented her “Electrical Walks”, in collaboration with the Goethe Institut and South London Gallery - the latter having published a recording of “National Grid” on their “Sound Factory” CD in 1998. For more information about the earlier project please follow this link -

www.flickr.com/disinfo/31910925141/

Taken on: January 8, 2017

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Disinformation

National Grid

Intonarumori

Luigi Russolo

50Hz

VLF Radio

Very Low Frequency Radio

Electromagnetism

Alternating Current

Live Mains Electricity

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Haroon Mirza

Lisson Gallery

David Toop

Hayward Gallery

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Carsten Nicolai

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Museum of Installation

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Arts Catalyst

Dan Tapper

Eric Demetriou

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Shintaro Miyazaki

ZKM Karlsruhe

Volksbühne Berlin

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Goethe Institut

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HEK Haus der elektronischen Künste

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Ash International

Touch Records

Joyce Hinterding

Honor Harger

Semiconductor Films

AV Festival Newcastle

Royal College of Art

Science Museum

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Mike Fell

Electricity The Spark of Life

Wellcome Trust

The Power of Electricity

Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent

NonClassical

Gabriel Prokofiev

Sound Image Research Group - University of Greenwich

Mika Vainio

Electromagnetic Sound Art

Kiasma Helsinki

Cryptic Glasgow

Tramway Glasgow

Sonica Surge

Electrical Walks

Theatrum Mundi

The Wire Magazine

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Neil Luck

Max Syedtollan

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