[spectre] Invisible Fields exhibition - Barcelona, October 2011 - March 2012

[Honor Harger]

Dear Spectres,

If you're going to be in Barcelona, at any point 
over the next six months, please do drop by Arts 
Santa Mònica on the Ramblas to see the Invisible 
Fields exhibition.
It's a co-production between Arts Santa Mònica 
and Lighthouse and features major works by Rafael 
Lozano-Hemmer, Trevor Paglen, Timo Arnall, Joyce 
Hinterding and many more.

Best wishes,

Honor Harger
Director, Lighthouse

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INVISIBLE FIELDS
GEOGRAPHIES OF RADIO WAVES

14 OCTOBER 2011 - 4 MARCH 2012
BARCELONA

Invisible Fields is a major new international 
exhibition at Arts Santa Mònica in Barcelona 
Spain, co-produced by Lighthouse. It brings 
together over a dozen internationally known 
artists, designers and scientists to explore the 
radio spectrum - the invisible environment that 
underpins contemporary technology. Co-curated by 
José Luis de Vicente and Honor Harger, the show 
includes significant works by Rafael 
Lozano-Hemmer, Trevor Paglen, Timo Arnall, Joyce 
Hinterding and many more.
The show is presented in the Laboratory space of 
Arts Santa Mònica 
<http://www.artssantamonica.cat/> directed by 
Josep Perelló.

Invisible Fields explores how our understanding 
of our world and our cosmos has been transformed 
by the study of radio waves. With the invention 
of telecommunication technology at the end of the 
19th century, the radio spectrum became a tool 
for rethinking the world we live in. Radio 
collapsed geographical distance, crossed borders 
and cultures, became a powerful catalyst for 
commerce and enabled scientists to study the 
cosmos in entirely new ways. Yet whilst the radio 
spectrum is the invisible infrastructure that 
enables the technologies of information and 
communication, most people are unaware of the way 
it works, how it is managed, and how it is has 
shaped our understanding of our lived environment.
Invisible Fields aims to shine a light on this enigmatic landscape.
The exhibition differs from past explorations of 
these topics, in that it is conceived as an 
interdisciplinary blend of social-cultural 
analysis, science communication, and artistic 
practice.

ARTISTS IN THE SHOW

Timo Arnall (BERG), Thomas Ashcraft, Matthew 
Biederman, Anthony DeVincenzi (MIT Media Lab), 
Diego Diaz and Clara Boj, Joyce Hinterding, 
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Trevor Paglen, Job Ramos, 
Semiconductor, Luthiers Drapaires, and Rasa Smite 
& Raitis Smits (RIXC).

WORKS IN THE SHOW

20Hz (new commission) by Semiconductor
Drone Vision by Trevor Paglen
Frequency & Volume by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Harnessing Wild Electricities from Outer Space by Thomas Ashcraft
Immaterials by Timo Arnall
Invisible Forces by Anthony DeVincenzi
Loops and Fields: Induction Drawings Series 4 by Joyce Hinterding
Magnetic Movie by Semiconductor
Observatorio by Clara Boj and Diego Diaz
Office of Spectral Ecology by Matthew Biederman
Skrunda Signal by Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits (RIXC)
The Conet Project by Irdial Records
New commission by Job Ramos

Plus a community Wifi workshop and information 
space by Guifi.net; a satellite observation 
workshop and ground-station by Plataforma Cero 
LABoral; an antenna-building workshop and antenna 
collection by Luthiers Drapaires; and a micro-FM 
building workshop by Arts Santa Monica.
The exhibition design, by Run Design, includes an 
operational Faraday Cage, a visual spatialisation 
of the electromagnetic chart and a visual 
timeline of spectrum utopias.

MORE ABOUT THE SHOW

More than a linear, historical narration of the 
evolution of spectrum technologies, Invisible 
Fields can best be understood as an 
"observatory", which enables visitors to perceive 
the radio spectrum. It sets out the spectrum as a 
physical space, invisible but present, a terrain 
that can be studied, mapped, surveyed and 
explored. It is an environment made of signals 
and waves from nature, and from us. Its 
topography is formed of waves of different 
scales, from tiny emissions given off by domestic 
objects to vast emissions made by distant 
astronomical phenomena. It's made up of signals 
that are very familiar, such as television and 
radio, and signals which are esoteric and 
enigmatic. It is an ecology that has public 
spaces - wireless internet and amateur radio - 
and secret spaces - coded military transmissions 
and clandestine signals.
Following on from pioneers such as John Cage, 
Alvin Lucier and Pauline Oliveros, contemporary 
artists such as Thomas Ashcraft, Semiconductor 
and Joyce Hinterding create powerful works that 
allow us to understand the radio spectrum as an 
extension of the natural world.

Sitting alongside their almost Emersonian 
understanding of radio as nature, is recent work 
in the field of architecture, design and 
urbanism, which expands the notion of urban space 
into the invisible realm of the spectrum. 
"Hertzian space", a term coined by designers, 
Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby, is defined by our 
transmissions of radio, television, wireless 
internet, GPS data and mobile phone signals. It 
is a space interrogated by artists and designers 
such as Timo Arnall from the BERG group in 
London, and Clara Boj and Diego Diaz who create 
clever visualisations of the presence of waves in 
our daily life.

Elsewhere in the show, artist Rafael 
Lozano-Hemmer's monumental tribute to the radio 
dial, enables us to physically move through radio 
transmissions, giving us a visceral encounter 
with our ethereal cultural surroundings. And 
experimental geographer and artist, Trevor Paglen 
and artist-activists, RIXC, shed light on the 
dark zones of the spectral landscape.

Invisible Fields is not only concerned with the 
topology of the radio landscape, but rather the 
socio-political activities that take place within 
it. Alongside the artworks in the show are 
operational workshops, which remind us that our 
position with the architecture of the spectrum is 
far from being that of a passive observer. As 
such, the exhibition space hosts intensive 
activity for a wide variety of audiences, with 
workshops on Sunday mornings, and a complete 
education programme offered to schools.
Taken together the works in Invisible Fields make 
the intangible materiality of the electromagnetic 
spectrum visible and audible. They open up the 
Hertzian space around us, and above us, to our 
senses. The visions of artists, the solutions of 
designers, and the experiments of scientists give 
us the tools we need to create our own mental 
maps of this profoundly influential terrain.

A catalogue in Spanish, Catalan and English 
editions is being published and will be available 
in November. It features essays by Douglas Kahn, 
Adam Greenfield, Martin Howse, Josep Perelló and 
others.

DATE/ TIME / VENUE

Dates: 14 October 2011 - 4 March 2012
Times: 1100 - 2100, Tuesday - Sunday
Venue: Arts Santa Mónica
La Rambla, 7
Barcelona, Spain

CREDITS

Organized by Arts Santa Mònica
Produced by Arts Santa Mònica, in association with Lighthouse.
Curated by: José Luis de Vicente and Honor Harger
Assisted by: Irma Vilà

In conjunction with:
British Council, Bureau du Quebec, Barcelone | 
Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec
Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación, Gijon, Bòlit, 
Centre d'Art Contemporani, Girona.

We acknowledge the support of: Proyecto PARTNeR 
Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), Departament 
d'Astronomia I Meteorologia-Universitat de 
Barcelona, Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria 
de Telecomunicació de Barcelona-Universitat 
Politècnica de Catalunya.

CONTACT

Lighthouse
http://www.lighthouse.org.uk

Address: 28 Kensington Street, Brighton, BN1 4AJ, UK
Tel: +44 1273 647197
email: info at lighthouse.org.uk
Find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LighthouseArts