Justene Williams, Spirit box, 2024 – 2026, Radios, speakers, metal cabinets, plastic, audio file (collage of recordings from performance of Making Do Rhymes with Poo 2025), Dimensions variable, TCG023981
Spirit box is a babel of radios tuned to music, talkback and static, with documentation of the live performance Making Do Rhymes with Poo 2025 coming through in the mix. The intention is to fill space with a sort of liveness. Radio is a way to both tune in and tune out of this world. A small portion of static, about one per cent, is literally thermal radiation from the echo of the Big Bang, picking up ancient bits of the universe.
The phrase “spirit box” also refers to radio scanners used in paranormal research to speak to those on the other side. The ghost hunters sweep through AM and FM frequencies to create a stream of white noise and audio snippets. Like them, I believe my father comes to me in audio energy, in the form of songs he loved coming through the radio. He is speaking to me. Radio signals are very old. There are still big dishes sending signals into space; we’re still trying to speak to someone out there. We’re so desperate for communication.
The phrase “spirit box” also refers to radio scanners used in paranormal research to speak to those on the other side. The ghost hunters sweep through AM and FM frequencies to create a stream of white noise and audio snippets. Like them, I believe my father comes to me in audio energy, in the form of songs he loved coming through the radio. He is speaking to me. Radio signals are very old. There are still big dishes sending signals into space; we’re still trying to speak to someone out there. We’re so desperate for communication.