Lost Ether (2026)
Lost Ether is a transmission-based project exploring the history and materiality of radio. The work employs local-range FM transmitters, each broadcasting a segment of an audio essay that traces how the historical understanding of “ether” shifted from a propagating medium to discrete waveforms—and lost in a transitional period of physics where nonlinear scientific narratives emerged.
Image by Edy Fung.
Presented in the R1 Reaktor Hall, where all external wireless signals are isolated, the audience experiences the spatial and material properties of radio waves. Moving through the space while listening via handheld FM receivers, one can sense the peripheries of transmission zones, uncovering information that is at once universal and profoundly local.Lost Ether meets several modes of representation: installation-based—site-responsive installation of FM transmitters, using both archival elements and collages of research essay; content based—radio broadcast of audio essay through these local transmitters as well as community radio platforms; participatory based—a radio sound walk of detecting and jamming the transmitters.
Image by Edy Fung.
Possible Format:
→ Installation
→ Radio Broadcast Episode
Supported by KTH NAVET and Muine Bheag Arts
__________________________________Work Title: Lost Ether
Year of Production: 2026
Size of Work: Dimension varies
Material/Medium: 3 no. radio transmitters, audio 30 minute loop
Sound Design: Dan Callanan @ Department of Energy
Project Funding: KTH NAVET