Radio broadcasting is a topic of the moment. When commercial stations don’t meet public demand, radio enthusiasts take things into their own hands. Radio Nights (2005), a documentary by artist David Blandy, investigates the invisible worlds of West London’s rich radio culture, from the pirate innovators of the 1980s to the Grime stars of the future. Blandy has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. Manchester filmmaker Charlotte Dean’s Keep It Locked (2001) follows two old friends as they search for the perfect roof to set up their pirate radio station.
Special Guests
Artist David Blandy and Filmmaker Charlotte Dean will be present for a Q&A session following the screening.
Normal ticket prices apply.
With over twenty established commercial and community radio stations now up and running in the Greater Manchester area, the air-waves are much in demand. Radio broadcasting is a topic very much of the moment, especially with a new FM local commercial radio licence for Manchester having been awarded to Xfm owned by London-based GCap Media plc.
Clearly from the success that Community Radio has found in Manchester, it would seem commercial stations are not meeting public demand in terms of programming, content and music diversity. However, the people of Manchester and radio enthusiasts from around the country sometimes take things into their own hands, forming their own community, one built around pirate radio culture.
For the third in this new series of bi-monthly experimental screening events, Cornerhouse presents two films that deal with this very issue.
Radio Nights (2005) is a documentary film by artist David Blandy and young people from the Avenues Youth Project in Queen’s Park, London. It investigates the invisible worlds of the listeners and broadcasters of West London’s rich radio culture, from late night call-ins to underground MCs tussling for airwaves, from the pirate innovators of the 1980s to the Grime stars of the future. Blandy has exhibited widely in shows in the UK and Internationally, his work dealing with identity, the construction of the self through mass media, subcultures and his relationship with popular culture.
From Manchester based filmmaker Charlotte Dean, Cornerhouse will be presenting Keep it Locked (2001), a short film exploring the ‘techniques and combinations’ employed by two old friends as they set up pirate radio station 106fm (the station is now shut-down), in inner city Manchester. Dean’s film takes an visual anthropology approach and in this sense exposes the raw reality of the ins and outs of pirating. Experience with them their summer spent in search the perfect roof to set up their pirate radio station.