Radio Papesse

This piece expresses the ongoing search for home and meaning in a time of ecological collapse and disintegration of old ideas about our place in the world. There are no facts or environmental insights in the piece. It's more about the internal flow of feelings and emotions that come from the desire to believe that we might be on the verge of something truly beautiful, despite (and perhaps also owing to) the health of the planet.

I'm reading about the idea that personal traumas and feelings of disconnectedness might well be very much tied to the dominant civilization’s wider sense of separateness from, and superiority over, nature.As Krishnamurti writes, "It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Joanna Macy describes how we are slowing unhooking ourselves from the "business as usual narrative" (the "world-destroying machine" in Charles Eisenstein's words) and that a "great turning" is underway. 

Sometimes I want to shout: "All this time we spend not marvelling at existence! All this time spent working, and drinking, and running away from death! All this time spent feeling negative about ourselves and each other! We all mean well! Now let's eat apples and go swimming!" Written down, I can't work out what that looks like. I often worry about that kind of thing. In any case, the piece is a call to ask ourselves the big questions, to “go there”, to contemplate, grieve and heal, and to commit to life and living and joy and mystery. It’s a big exasperated “I don’t know what to do!” and a “but I’m going to do this because it feels right” as well.

Phil(ip Mark Christopher) Smith sometimes feels like an artist working with words, music, sound, and radio.

The space between stories by Phil Smith is presented by Constellations Audio in the context of Lucia La Radio al Cinema, an international festival devoted to the craft of audio storytelling in radio and podcasting, organized by Radio Papesse in Florence, December 12-14, 2019. 

Constellations Audio is a sound art and experimental narrative collective that highlights international artists making sound works that convey meaning through evocation and abstraction. They curate and produce a podcast, live events, and publish sound materials. Constellation’s pieces unravel distinctions between documentary, sound art, soundscape, fiction, and music. They demand a deep listening experience, encouraging listeners to expand their conception of narrative, musicality, and attention.