Tree Radio and Transmission Spores
- Submitting institution
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Canterbury Christ Church University
- Unit of assessment
- 34 - Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management
- Output identifier
- U34.031
- Type
- L - Artefact
- Location
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of production
- -
- Year of production
- 2015
- URL
-
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The centrality of environmental issues to Hall’s research in radio art is evidenced by both Tree Radio - a hand-built radio installation visited by 40,000 visitors at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2015-16) – and Transmission Spores (2018) – an installation broadcasting a sound composition by Hall from the trunk of an infected ash tree.
Tree Radio’s artist-built FM transmitter relayed the tree’s reactions to light and water as sound. Produced during Hall’s Art for the Environment Residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, this prestigious international programme was established by Professor Lucy Orta to address the ways in which we interact with the environment and each other.
Working at the intersection of art and technology, Tree Radio brings together Hall’s practice-based research on FM transmitters, radio art, radio history and the environment. Revealing hidden facets of tree life, the installation transformed an oak tree into a unique hand built solar powered micro radio station.
The piece examines issues of sustainability through the use of solar technology, while also engaging with radio’s overlooked military history of the tree antenna, revisited and explored in Hall’s development of a unique radio transmitter. Tree Radio was runner up for the 2016 BASCA British Composer Award 2016 for Sonic Art, and was described by Geographical magazine as “a powerful presentation that probes our preconceptions and concerns around the environment”.
The environmental aspect of Hall’s work is further developed in Transmission Spores, which provides a new perspective on ash dieback. The installation uses the trunk of an infected tree as an FM transmitter, from which Hall broadcast a spore-like radio composition of scientific descriptions of how ash dieback spreads. This commissioned piece was produced for the Ash Archive, and toured 5 galleries in South East England was exhibited at Platform Intermedia, Nantes France and the RWA Bristol
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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