N E W S
JULY 2014
The X Ray Audio Project will feature in this Autumn's BBC 4 series 'The Echo Chamber' prior to a full radio documentary.
JUNE 2014
The X Ray Audio Project has received ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND funding.
We are currently researching toward publication in 2015
A selection of the authors' X-ray recordings are currently showing at London's contemporary Russian GRAD GALLERY in the "Work-and-play-behind-the-iron-curtain" exhibition.
We will be PRESENTING the project at:
THE HORSE HOSPITAL - 18 September 2014
WESTMINSTER REFERENCE LIBRARY - 13 November 2014
We will be EXHIBITING the project at:
THE HORSE HOSPITAL - 25 - 31st August 2014
WESTMINSTER REFERENCE LIBRARY - 11 March 2015
For more information contact us
For more information on the authors go here
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B A C K G R O U N D
Many older people in Russia remember seeing and hearing strange vinyl type discs when they were young. The discs had partial images of skeletons on them and were called 'Bones' or 'Ribs'.
In an era when the recording industry was ruthlessly controlled by the State, an alternative source of raw materials was found to make illegal recordings - used X Ray plates obtained by bribery from local hospitals.
For more on the story of the X-Ray recordings go here.
To hear a Bone recording go here
For more information on the people we are working with go here
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P R O J E C T
X Ray Audio is a UK ARTS COUNCIL funded project researching and publicising this unique story of bio-medical and cultural history in the UK by:
- Writing and producing a high quality book with STRANGE ATTRACTOR PRESS for publication in 2015. The book will contain photographic images, essays and a selection of audio examples of the range of forbidden content the discs contained.
- Interviewing and recording surviving Russians involved in
the creation and distribution of the
- Photographing and collecting a selection of high quality, examples of the discs for posterity.
- Engaging with academics and experts in the field to uncover and understand the various technical and cultural aspects relating to the use of the X Ray plates.
- Writing and commissioning relevant essays to illuminate the subject and its contemporary relevance for the purpose of public education
- The production of a short film documenting the process of creating a new 'Bone' with a specially commissioned piece of music and contemporary x-ray plates.
- Creation of a website devoted to the publication and a collection of images of the X Ray recording.
The project will mainly be carried out in 2014 – the official year of Russian and UK cultural collaboration. It has an unusually wide range of audiences because of its unique cross-disciplinary subject matter. These include those interested in the histories of:
- - Musicology
- - The technology of audio recording
- - Forbidden or banned works
- - Cold war Soviet culture
- - Copyright
- - Recycling
- - Reproduction
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