Open Call Datscha Radio // Բացեք զանգը Դատչա Ռադիո
The Gardens of Gyumri
In a few seconds they passed.
In agitation and crisis they passed // In sorrow and grieving they passed.
They left and the years passed// adding happiness to pain.
Arshalouys Markarian: Years
Excerpt from „The Other Voice. Armenian Women’s Poetry through the Ages”.
Translated by Diana Der-Hovanessian. AIva Press 2005
In the Taxi on the Road to Gyumri I ate the one and only apple I had brought with me from my Berlin garden. The taste was fresh, sour and sweet, and it mingled at the back of my palate with the aroma of exhaust fumes and dusty blankets. As a visiting artist from Germany, a stranger to the local communities, I feel immensely touched yet distant from the history of Armenia and the devastating earthquake in 1988. Now I live in Mush 2, one of the largest districts following the destruction of this city. My view goes out to new houses, old mountains and a small garden plot, fenced with a stone wall and used car tyres. Always, always, there will be something growing.
Datscha Radio is a nomadic garden radio project maintained and organized by Berlin artist and traveler Gabi Schaffner.
Datscha Radio’s idea of gardening comprises the notion of gardens as a part of our cultural heritages. In the case of the Armenian project, this notion is extended to employ the arts and gardening as valuable strategies to grow resilience by taking care of one’s surroundings – be it plants, water, soil, housing or family.
Datscha Radio invites you to contribute to “The Gardens of Gyumri”, celebrating the joy of connecting to each other: on site, on air and online.
Together with our guests and participants, we will broadcast live on Sunday, 29th of September at a time yet to be fixed. We will also revive the tradition of micro-broadcasting. The program will present talks and readings, concerts, sound art, and it will be organized in cooperation with the Art Basis platform and the Gyumri Branch of State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia.
Since this radio station is ‘home-made’, an experiment and absolutely non-commercial, please understand that we will not accept mainstream music or mixes. Instead:
We are curious about
- Local knowledge about fauna & flora, ecology and the art of cooking
- Poetry/conversations relating to neighbourhood, friendship and family, grieving & recovery
- Sound art, field recordings and playful approaches to radio
- Traditional music and songs
- When interested to perform live, please send 100 words about your set.
- When interested to do live cooking or share recipes, please send a note about what kind of dish you have in mind
- Your very person: Come and create radio!
Deadline: September, 25, 2024
Languages: EN, ARM, RU
- The English language is NOT mandatory!
- You may send spoken word contributions or information about your work also in your native language
- Don’t feel shy, there will be translators to help me understand.
Your contributions
- Please send your sound contribution as mp3 ONLY (preferably 320 mbits)
- label your tracks: firstname_lastname_title_min (minutes)
- include a pdf with <100 words about your piece and your person
- put Gyumri Gardens as subject line
- send the link for your works to info@datscharadio.de or your files directly via wetransfer et al.
Note: You must own the (copy)rights of your production, be it sound or writing!
How to listen
You can listen online on datscharadio.de and selected radio stations to be announced in due time
You can listen on site (the location of the studio in Gyumri has not yet been decided on, but will be published soon on our social media channels and on datscharadio.de) We are fond of an open studio situation: performers, spontaneous live guests and visitors are welcome.
Sustainability
A For Datscha Radio, sustainability is not defined by the universal availability of replicable products, but by the experience of togetherness and local knowledge that is remembered and translated into a shared future.
B You are heartily invited to take out your old radios from their closets and experiment with analogue reception in the station’s vicinity.
Fees
Datscha Radio works on a non-commercial basis, therefore we cannot reimburse you for your valuable time and work. What we have to offer is a radio station and art platform for discovery, exchange and networking. In the off-line world.
Copyrights
All copyrights stay with the artists. For more information about the project, please see datscharadio.de
For any questions, please write to: info@datscharadio.de
Facebook: datscharadio.de || Insta: datscharadio
Text: ©Gabi Schaffner; Image: Armenian ornament, free license.
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