“Open :: House :: Chicago :: Calling” was a Open House Chicago performance that happened in the Fine Arts Building on 10/15/2011. This performance included aural architecture, a performance by a musical ensemble, sounds contributed by artists from other Open House Worldwide cities such as Dublin and New York, and incidental sounds contributed by passers-by in FAB’s lobby and stairway between its first and second floors. Performers and contributors included Eric Leonardson (springboard), Linda O’Keeffe (recordings), Sarah Ritch (cello), Edmund Mooney (recordings), Todd Carter (electronics), and Dan Godston (trumpet).
Maile Colbert explores how several key field recordists define and explore the notion of soundscape. In her podcast, Jen Boyd, Rui Costa, Maile, and I address our work in sound studies and field recording.
ESS posted my performance with Anna Friz for the opening of Respire at Audible on its SoundCloud profile. What you hear, amongst a roomful of radios receiving the sounds of breathing and other bodily exclamations typically absent from regular radio programming, is Anna playing amplified sruti, mbira, and electronics. I performed on the Springboard and Korg MS-20. We performed on Friday July 16, 2011. Listen here:
9–10 a.m. (PST) Wednesday, August 10, 2011 the Seattle Phonographers Union (Steve Peters, Dale Lloyd, Perri Lynch, and Steve Barsotti) performed on Weekday, and talked with radio host Steve Scher, on Seattle’s KUOW to discuss the Sounds of Summer.
Among the work of over 150 artists my early efforts in the field of radio, art, and radio art were cited in a new book, Transmission Arts: Artists & Airwaves (PAJ Publications, 2011) by Galen Joseph-Hunter, Penny Duff, and Maria Papadomanolaki.
On Saturday, July 23 free103point9.org Transmission Arts and WGXC: Hands-on Radio (90.7-FM) will hold a book launch with radio art performances. If you are in or near The Spotty Dog in Hudson, New York (I won’t be there myself, but feel free to drop in and tune in).
COMING UP: Chicago Phonography performs at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for World Listening Day on Saturday, July 23. Find more information on the website of the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSAE).
Chicago Phonography is an informal collective that performs with field recordings from around the Chicago land area: www.chicagophonography.org/
“Nature performs, we provide the secretarial services.” R. Murray Schafer
The second annual World Listening Day is on Monday, July 18. I join hundreds and perhaps thousands more people to celebrate and observe this day all through the week.
World Listening Day is being recognized in a substantial, truly global way. Participation last year was phenomenal. Please visit the WLP website to learn more, participate, and subscribe to our Yahoo! Groups and Facebook Group.
Polly Ullrich was a new friend and Chicago art critic who died suddenly in a car accident on Wednesday, July 6. Her feature article about sound in art in Chicago, “Making Worlds: Chicago Sound As Sculpture,” in Sculpture Magazine, mentioned important figures and resources in our local community, including my work with Chicago Phonography. With publication of her article, Polly was given support to organize a panel discussion on sound art in Chicago for the annual Art Chicago exposition on Saturday, April 30. She moderated with featured speakers Andrea Polli, Shawn Decker, and Christopher Janney. We enjoyed a nice dinner afterward, and were looking forward to attending the Sound Art Theories Symposium at SAIC, in November. It would have been fun to continue the conversation on sound and its role in the arts. As Duncan McKenzie wrote, “Polly, we miss you already…”
Polly was amazing and her passing is a loss to our art world and local community. She was kind, thoughtful and often set an example that was so blindingly hopeful that it was hard not to follow. I will forever remember her curiosity, interest, enthusiasm, and commitment to fostering a critical community. She will be missed by all of us that knew her and by this community.
9–10 a.m. (PST) Wednesday, August 10, 2011 the 
