duration unknown by Mobile Radio (Sarah Washington & Knut Aufermann)

This piece concerns the uncertainties and contradictions of modern-day car use, and unfolds in the mind rather more as an unfinished philosophical journey than a physical one.
It was conceived as an antidote to the celebratory sentiment (although perhaps ironically intended) engendered in listeners by the Kraftwerk song ‘Autobahn’ - in relationship to the building of an out-of-time motorway bridge over the Mosel valley near Ürzig in Germany. The originally planned action was to detonate the record while it played on a portable turntable on the unfinished bridge, which was deemed somewhat tricky to realise.

The work was made for the show Cafe Sonore on the Dutch national radio channel VPRO in 2010, commissioned by Lukas Simonis. During a residency at WORM in Rotterdam to prepare source material, we recorded all the electronics on their wonderful array of analogue synths, which we interconnected with our own home-made instruments. We also set up radio and open-mic feedback processes in the studio. The voiceover was recorded in our home studio.

Mobile Radio

Sarah Washington and Knut Aufermann began Mobile Radio on the 18th September 2005. For the first two years the project was touring Europe without a home base.
It was established as a travelling project to build upon our work across Europe in the fields of radio and sound art which had arisen during the three years that we helped to establish the London art radio station Resonance FM. Our work takes us to media and art festivals, conferences, universities, and one-off events where we run short-lived radio stations, create special live broadcasts, give workshops and talks, design radio installations and play concerts. We also make radiophonic works for public and community radios worldwide, and produce books on the topic of radio art. Nowadays based in Germany, we continue the work of Mobile Radio with those who want to develop concepts through the medium of radio. Our mission remains the same: to seek out new forms of radio by taking radio production out of the studio environment.

Each airing of the work is unique due to a production stunt; this version was specially produced for Radia in December 2024.