Soliloquy, 2000, 25 x 45 x 15 cm, radio, CD player
“Soliloquy” – 2000, a radio receiver with a CD player installed within. The track presents the soliloquy of the receiver’s first owner, commenting on the authentic radio program. The characteristic mask of the machine has been minimised.
In the 1990’s, you could occasionally meet a homeless carrying a radio on his shoulder, listening to music or news and mumbling something to himself. The soliloquy radio reacts to this phenomenon. Its front part is minimised to create an impression of dull dumbness of malfunction and still, although the apparatus lacks any functional elements (speakers, controls…), it produces sound, a hollow sound from “the inside”. However, the sound is not connected with the radio broadcast; it is the homeless’ reaction to the breaking news on the radio we cannot hear. It is a fitful reaction of a frustrated wretch who considers the surrounding world an evil conspiracy and himself as the main victim of i….
