Simon Whetham/Phil Maguire

UK sound artist Simon Whetham performs in Cork for the first time, presenting his unique work for obsolete electronics and shortwave radios. Cork composer and improviser Phil Maguire will play an improvised set of modular synthesis.

Simon Whetham - “Channelling Shortwave”

This latest iteration of Whetham's Channelling project is a descendant of “Channelling Airwaves”, a work commissioned by Deustchlandfunk Kultur and Cashmere Radio in early 2025.

This new version features shortwave radio transmissions that were recorded at GMEA Albi, France in November 2025. Because of the nature of shortwave, Whetham captured broadcasts from around the globe, but also the artifacts heard between the stations: white noise static, strange tones and whistles, and overlapping signals that are non-existent in digital broadcasts and streaming. The recordings are piped through a new collection of mechanical devices sourced from various obsolete media and storage devices, these being a hard disc drive, a floppy disc drive, a turntable, a minicassette recorder and a CD-ROM. The amplified radio broadcasts play through the motors of the devices, resonating and activating them in erratic ways. These actions are then further amplified using contact microphones, EMF pickup coils and a small handheld radio.