The third and last issue of the first year of Experimental Publishing (XPUB), Radio Implicancies: Methods To Practice Interdependencies, is a series of eight, increasingly ambitious, weekly released sound publications. While the name of this publication might give you the impression that those periodical releases were broadcasted, they very much took place behind closed doors, amongst the group members themselvesā¦
Released for the very first time on the 12th of April, the twelve members of the group, who where shapeshifting each Tuesday of the week into their own audience, constantly shuffled positions in the overall work infrastructure until the last release on the 21st of June. This modular approach to work positions enabled an interdependent publishing structure in which different figures of agency took turn in order to share responsibilities in a sustainable manner.
Certainly captivated by the diversity in shapes, contents and experiences offered by the Special Issue 18's eight sound publications, one might wonder: but what is it all about? The time pressure and weekly format framework left the overall project stuck under the surface of the water, as under an ice floe. Yet, the time spared on reflecting over past releases was invested in a bold pace of exploration, in which each week the group has re-conceptualised new work methodologies. The urgency of experimenting with new infrastructures and breaking down mainstream hierarchical ones, took over the reflection of the resulted emergencies within each project. The ice floe broke at some place, enabling water flows, but those remained disparate, a stream still waiting to be connected.
Every other Tuesday of each week, somehow estranged from everyones' work progress, all the members of the group, except the care-takers (a few members responsible of the overall outcome of that week's publication), would walk into a dedicated room unaware of what kind of experience they would step into. Some publications even shifted from edited projects to live performances, presenting tools, interface or instruments for the public to thread all the pieces together themselves.
The third week release, Uneven Patterns, was the first milestone in which the release's care-takers took the role of editors. The listener's experience evolved from that of a brutal unintentional edit of disparate sound-works, to an intentional curated piece, interlaced by a common rhythm: that of different binding sounds. The theme presented by the editors was inviting in a non-restrictive manner.
From then on the publications' care-takers became the heart of each weekly release.
On the fourth week, the Emergent Opera's care-takers introduced a new kind of release format: live edit. The release's interface, unlike the up-to-then linear structures, took the form of a circular constellation of sound tracks, an instrument that can be activated by any willing participant, generating a new kind of audio-collage.
This potential for more performative and interactive interfaces inspired the care-takers of The Jingle Board Parliament to challenge said format on the fifth week. For the first time, the potential of found footage in media and pop culture, within a short-format restriction, got encouraged. The occasion to experience and command a once in a lifetime political landscape hosting an eclectic assemble of voices.
The instrument became voice. While dialogues were emerging out of cheer spontaneity, the Nested Narratives release was the occasion to reflect together on a textual net around a given refrain. One that would weave the diverse reflection, on a common problematic, of makers and listeners togetherā¦
And the voices carried methods. For the first time in months, the care-takers decided to take the bull by the horns and propose to confront methodologies upfront with the Sharing Methods for Diffractive Reading cookbook. The occasion highlighted that however considerate a method might be, different texts need different care and attention.
This intricate publication blew a wind of spontaneity to the last week's release. Each day, the different contributors would react to one another with daily (short-) uploads on the Unfolding [ ] Implicancies platform. A final interface with data strata of all kind resulted in a generous open-end: a rhizome narrative with no top nor bottom, no left or right, where what ends is where that begins.