talking crosswalks

an acoustic world atlas on orf-kunstradio

Sundays at 11:05 p.m. - Ö1 Kunstradio

when it clicks quickly, a green light goes on, when it clicks slowly, it turns red. it is as simple as that. or at least the austrian version is.

but what are the actual deeper meanings behind a rhythm that in a broad but also profound sense assumes responsibility for the stop-and-go society?

an acoustic signal - the above mentioned "clicking" - greatly changes our world of perception. for those who are blind or have severely impaired vision it can be of vital importance; others hardly notice this so very essential sound and information carrier.

what we are talking about here are so-called "blind traffic lights", those devices found at crossroads on all five continents between melbourne and montreal, between tiny towns in patagonia and vladivostok. in the usa these traffic lights and signals have been poetically called "talking crosswalks", and this expression will serve here also as the meaningful title for a form of "talking radio" certainly unique in both its preparation and presentation.

for this ~~sinnlos~~ sound project, artists are being invited from around the globe to record authentically on location these minimalistic "signal symphonies" which often resound so differently from country to country. they can also feel free to add or not add an artistic statement based on their associations and intuitions.

these ~~sinnlos~~ songlines will then be broadcast beginning march 2003 on orf-kunstradio. playing time: 150 seconds each. nonetheless, these seconds will carry listeners off around the world and in this context provide them with unheard-of global acoustic picture postcards. talking crosswalks, signal and sound tracks that invite listeners in their living-rooms and elsewhere on an imaginary and yet extremely real acoustic world excursion.

talking crosswalks
concept: wolfgang temmel
realization: elisabeth zimmermann
collabororator: norbert math
translation: cathy saxon