Radio Beirut

2015

Five borrowed radios simultaneously broadcasting Arabic, Armenian, English, French, and Filipino news stations respectively

Exhibited at the Beirut Art Residency’s Open Studio, 10 December 2015.

The call of a muezzin accompanies a commercial; a French pop song from the 80s competes with a Christmas carol. The news begins on the hour. Five voices speak in unison, filling the space with their austere monologues. Reports of triumphs and tragedies are retold five times before the voices diverge with their own stories, their music.

Five borrowed radios play at once. Each is tuned to a different frequency – to an Arabic, Armenian, English, French, and Filipino station, respectively. The cacophony of music and voices is at first unintelligible and unclear, the collective sounds of Beirut (of Babel) a confusion of noise. Move closer, however, and you’ll hear the competing broadcasts become distinct from one another. Listen for a song, follow one voice among the others. Hold your ear to the speaker; lean down to the lowest radio.

A Sony radio alarm, borrowed from the Taouk family, Rabiyeh.

A Sony waist-belt radio, borrowed from the Serhan family, Hamra.

A Tobi Sonic ‘Solid State’ radio, borrowed from the Kaloustian family, Ain-Saade.

A Submarine portable compact disk, radio, and cassette player, borrowed from the Ackawi family, Ashrafieh.

A Sony portable compact disk, radio, and cassette player, borrowed from the Rizkallah family, Rabiyeh.