Antiterrorparadox2:
A quadrophonic Feedback for two radiostations. Hosted by kunstradio
( http://www.kunstradio.at/)
The Larson effect (feedback) named after the Danish physician Søren Larsen (1871-1957) describes a phenonemon which can be experienced repeatedly at concerts: If you hold a microphone too close to a loudspeaker this causes a rapidly evolving piercing tone which can even lead to a collapse of the audio system. What was once regarded as an annoying noise has become an acknowledged stylistic device, especially for rock music since the sixties. In case this effect occurs within electronic communication, however, it ranks as a breakdown as due to this incident the transmission of information no longer makes sense.
In their live act at the APA (Austria - Press - Agency) building (the heart of austrian press information) thilges3 will operate with the feedback effect and interact with the radio stations Österreich 1 and FM4. By locating the project in the headquarters of Austria's mayor news agency (Austria Press Agency) and the company's role as information collector, filter, and distributor content-wise a specific context is created. The artistic transformation of networking provides a wider symbolic meaning to a common phenomenon in the media branch.
In order to evoke the feedback the artists of thilges3 send (acoustic) information to the transmitter (radio). These are resent immediatly, again via the radio. Microphones are adjusted infront of the radio loudspeakers capture the transmitted sound which, then again, is processed by the artists with modular analogue synthesizers.
At the same time, the position of microphones is the reason for the feedback effect: The short circuit of transmitter (radio) and receiver (microphone) causes the well-known disturbances which, in the most extreme case, make a meaningful transmission of information impossible. In this case, thilges3 uses the feedback effect as an aesthetic method - a "closed circuit" or acoustic perpetuum mobile is created.
As in all their artistic interventions, thilges3 will stage a quadrophic situation at the APA building. The stereo channels of both radio stations are split into mono channels which allows them to be triggered individually. The aim is to create an effect of spacial sound. Listeners at home need to stereo radios tuned to the two different stations to get the quarophonic effect.