In this session we’ll be exploring the use of audio archive material in the production process of new audio works from documentary series to radio plays. How are this recordings used, what are the ethics of using and adapting historical archives for sonic works? Bitsy Knox’s presents ’New Friend’ an 5 part audio documentary about a series of photographs taken in the 70’s.
We will listen to one binaural episode as part of this session.
Fin Kennedy will explain how he adapts archive material to write and produce audio drama with emphasis on a recent project: Remixing History an audio zine making experience about World War II, produced with the National Archives.
The flip side to this is the creation of new audio archives from documenting interviews to oral histories. What are the processes of making this collections and where do they end up?
Independent audio producer Danni Stewart has been building a sonic archive of love stories from the disability community called Crip Love’ and Tamar Avishai has been co-ordinating ’Sounds of America’, sound works from every state of America as a living archive of the US after 250 years.
Bitsy Knox - New Friend
Bitsy Knox's 5-part audio documentary 'New Friend' delves into the story behind a series of photographs taken by the iconic lesbian experimental filmmaker, Barbara Hammer on a small island in Canada in 1973. The documentary synthesises audio and textual archives, sound design, and oral testimonies into an in-depth story of identity and art on the verge of becoming, road trips, long-distance love and single motherhood. At XMTR, one episode will be aired as part of an immersive listening event, followed by a panel discussion in which Knox will discuss working with both textual and sonic archives.
Bitsy Knox is an artist, radio host, and writer currently based in Berlin, Germany. She is the host of Something Like on Cashmere Radio, Berlin and 96.5 CHFR, Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada. She is one half of the duo Bitsy Knox & Roger 3000, whose 2nd LP, 'The Ears of Animals' was released by Moli del Tro in 2025. She is Deputy Editor of Pina , a London-based arts and literature platform and magazine. Bitsy is currently working on a book accompaniment to her audio documentary, New Friend, to be published in 2027 by INFO office.
https://cashmereradio.com/shows/something-like/
Fin Kennedy / Farokh - Remixing History (Applied Stories)
Remixing History is an audio zine making workshop by Applied Stories and The National Archives which has been touring the UK for the past year. Participants are invited to browse real archival records from the Second World War, brought to life by actors, then cut, mix and edit them together in new combinations, along with sound effects and music of their choosing. The resulting remixes of this historical material can be recorded, and may feature on 'War Variations', a new concept album being developed.
Fin Kennedy is a writer, producer and artistic director of Applied Stories, a digital production company making place-based audio drama. http://www.appliedstories.co.uk Farokh Soltani is a teacher, writer, editor, sound designer and academic with a PhD in radio drama. http://www.soltani.cc
The Remixing Histories workshop will be accessible throughout the day in the Gladstone Room, at the Royal Victoria Hotel.
Danni Stewart - Crip Love
A sonic archive of love stories from the disability community.
Danni Stewart is an artist and producer based in London. Their audio work has been featured by Transom, ABC Radio National, fbi.radio, Uniondocs Centre for Documentary Art and elsewhere. Most recently, they published Crip Love, a sonic archive of love stories from the disability community. Danni is currently completing her masters in fine art at the UCL Slade School of Fine Art researching the connections between ecology, queerness and critical disability studies.
Sounds Like America - Tamar Avishai (Hub & Spoke)
The dinging train-crossing gate in Deshler, OH. Rain falling on a nylon tent in Ashford, WA. Gravel popping under a pick-up truck tire in Fayetteville, WV. A clanging radiator in Cambridge, MA. These are the sounds of America the Beautiful. America the Complicated. America the Contradictory. A patchwork of lived-in places and experiences, the sounds that most people would never notice, but would bring you home in a heartbeat.
We are all living in this enormous sonic canvas, and this year, as our immeasurable country celebrates its 250th birthday, it’s the special gift of audio producers to listen for and isolate the sounds that are both familiar and foreign to us all.
https://www.hubspokeaudio.org/sounds-like-america
You will be able to hear some of these works at The Listening Lounge (time and date TBC)
Tamar Avishai is a Boston-born, Cleveland-based freelance audio producer, writer, and arts reporter with a background in art history, who has been encouraging people to look with their ears since 2014. In 2016, sheb created an award-winning independent art history podcast, The Lonely Palette, and in 2017, co-founded and now heads up Hub & Spoke, a collective of independent, idea-driven, and mind-expanding podcasts.
She's passionate about independence in audio, making the visual aural, and curious, compassionate human storytelling.
FESTIVAL PASS HOLDERS ONLY