In “Caribbean Sounds: The Connective Possibilities of Radio,” writer Kenny Cairo “rewires the sonics of radio and connectivity, from Guadeloupe to Jamaica to Paris.” For full article (edited by Chris Cyrille), visit Contemporary& América Latina.
In September 2024, I began a research-creation residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. I developed the sound installation Urgence, assembled as an orchestra of second-hand loudspeakers. Activated as part of a performance curated by Fondation H, each loudspeaker broadcast sound autonomously, drawing the audience into a sound space saturated with information. At the heart of this performance, one sound-emitting object held a central place: the radio.
Elevated to the status of an active work within Urgence, the radio embodies, in the insular Caribbean context, the possibilities of flight towards Elsewhere through sound and of exploration from the listening site. It also remains a tool for reconnecting Antillean realities through a broadcast that abolishes the archipelago’s maritime borders. This reflection stems from a listening experience within the Guadeloupean landscape and notably informed my work at the Cité internationale des arts.
A Flight Towards Elsewhere
Hurricanes crossing the Caribbean basin from June to November each year, along with seismic and volcanic activity: such potentially catastrophic natural phenomena are part of everyday life in Guadeloupe. In these situations, radio is the perfect tool for staying informed via the airwaves, on devices that can run without mains electricity and rely on batteries. In Guadeloupe, the population is strongly attached to this object. From January to June 2024, 73% of those aged 13 and over listened to radio (Médiamétrie, 3 July 2024). This listening can be understood contextually: ‘the majority of people in Guadeloupe travel to their place of work by car (84%), and many of them listen to the radio on that occasion’ (INSEE). Yet that practice extends to the home, where radio listening becomes a way of observing how other realities are woven when mobility is constrained — a way to connect with stories coming from the other islands that make up the archipelago.
Radio enables one to hear sounds as they spread, words as they are spoken, where sight can hinder discovery. In the Caribbean insular context, the radio object abolishes the sea as obstacle. [. . .]
A Sharing of Listening
Placed within the home, the radio becomes an intimate, personal object. The choice of a station, and broadcasting it through the house, entails a sharing of listening with those around us. [. . .]
Folded into the performance Urgence, the radio prompts critical reflection on a central object of modern Guadeloupean culture. Beyond eliciting gestures from the performer towards the object, it invites the public to an experience close to my own in Guadeloupe: an opening towards other geographies and realities — here, Haiti — and a sharing of listening. [. . .]
Kenny Cairo is a multimedia artist and cultural worker based between Guadeloupe and Paris. His work explores the intersections of human relations, recording practices, and the experience of landscape. His recent work about the Caribbean region has mostly focused on soundscape, the experience of natural hazards, and the resilience of local communities to emergency situations.
For full article and photos, see https://contemporaryand.com/en/america-latina-magazine/texts/caribbean-sounds-the-connective-possibilities-of-radio
In “Caribbean Sounds: The Connective Possibilities of Radio,” writer Kenny Cairo “rewires the sonics of radio and connectivity, from Guadeloupe to Jamaica to Paris.” For full article (edited by Chris Cyrille), visit Contemporary& América Latina. In September 2024, I began a research-creation residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. I developed the sound installation
