'The mouth and the ear, how things will travel from one to an other - A play' by ICRN
'The mouth and the ear, how things will travel from one to an other - A play'
As part of the ICRN gathering in Riga (July 2026), Mariana from Seyðisfjörður Community Radio hosted a workshop that used collective writing methods to produce a script that was performed and rehearsed over the radio.
During previous activities at our meeting in Riga, participants gathered around the themes of 'community' and 'archive' to discuss the significance of these concepts based on the experience and praxis of each represented community radio. Drawing from these discussions, this workshop proposed reflecting and writing about these concepts in the future tense. The idea of conditioning our thinking into a specific gramatic time, pretended to open space for uncertainty and fiction, in a way to invite free writing and surprise. The instruction was open enough to encourage the group to explore what kind of dialogue or sounds could result, prompting them to collaboratively develop forms of writing to perform and rehearse.
Using a digital open pad—a document where many could write and edit simultaneously—the group wrote two scripts that were performed at different times. The first script responded to the immediate use of the tool and different ways to describe present situations. After performing this first proposal, the group reflected on what the methodology and the live broadcast evoked, and decided to try again by writing a second script. This time there were more parameters to follow, for example, specific characters were proposed and each person had the task of giving a voice to the character according to what it meant for themselves or the collective. The sound cues to animate the dialogue also took more relevance and introduced an improvisation element that gave rhythm and pause to the live performance. After listening to this second rehearsal there was time to reflect upon the exercise and the concepts and characters that emerged from our collective writing.
Initial instruction:
This is a space to think and write about community radios and their archive in the future tense.
What’s the minimum unit of a community?
What is the essential condition for a community to exist?
Is it being in relation to another living being?
Is it an interaction like call and response?
Is it to inhabit an ecosystem?
Is it an attunement of sorts?
Our bodies are antennas. What do we hear?
What do you smell? What do you feel on your skin?
When we breath together, you can hear the crackle and hiss, like radio static
For now, we are between worlds: between a world before 1.5° C warming and a world after 1.5° C warming.
From where we are, what do you want to record, archive or transmit?
What needs to be documented, kept safe or shared?
