Radio Earth Hold - Colonial Voice by Radio Earth Hold

Radio Earth Hold is organised by Rachel Dedman, Lorde Selys and Arjuna Neuman, commissioned as a collateral project of Qalandiya International, and supported by the Serpentine Galleries.

It traces echoes between the anti-occupation movement in Palestine and anti-racism movements in the North American context. It examines British Mandate radio as a colonial instrument in Palestine, and Israeli control of Palestinian telecommunications as part of the architecture of occupation. It connects these to the birth of Mni Wiconi during the Standing Rock protests, radical midwifery practices, and the acousmatics of sound in the womb.
Broadening beyond political struggle to the phenomenon of ‘natural radio’, Radio Earth Hold’s research addresses how electromagnetic radiation functions at a bigger-than-planetary scale. How might natural radio and acousmatic sound—reverb without a cause, or echo without a source—offer a model for reorganising relationships between the individuals and the world? What solidarity emerges from the recognition of our participation in the transmission of planetary sound?
Radio Earth Hold is commissioned as part of the collateral program of Qalandiya International IV, and supported by the Serpentine Galleries, London.
On the 28th October 2018, Radio Earth Hold presents a day of collective listening and discussion around these ideas, bringing together artists, writers and musicians working on sound, radio, activism and the planetary. The day navigates engaged political struggle with more macro, theoretical, and poetic perspectives from Ultra-red, Daisy Hildyard, Sulaiman Majali, Sophie Dyer, Louis Moreno and Dhanveer Singh, 12-6pm, Serpentine Galleries, London, free to attend.
With thanks to Rana Anani, Yazan Khalili, Amal Khalaf, Elizabeth Graham, the Serpentine, Robert Leckie and the team at Gasworks, and all those who supported our research.