SEBASTIAN CLOUGH Inquest Radio Remodel 6 October
through 24 November 2001
Los Angeles Contemporary
Exhibitions presented Inquest Radio Remodel, an exhibition
of new sculptural/installation work by Los Angeles-based artist
Sebastian Clough. An opening reception took place on Saturday 6
October 2001 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. For images and additional
information please call 323.957.1777 x17.
Inquest Radio Remodel
was a project that consisted of fabricated programming for an entire
radio station. All of the programs on Inquest sound authentic, but
are in fact entirely fictional. Using sound recording equipment,
computers, and his own voice and music, Clough has written, narrated,
scored, performed, edited, and fully produced a huge amount and
an ambitious range of programs that include travelogues, documentaries,
newscasts, sports shows, talk shows, and more. The programs are,
literally, the result of a single voice and vision. Inquest, dubbed
"a voice for most of Southern California and the Nation",
started as a small project in a social club of which Clough was
a founder. The gallery lacked a radio, so the artist brought in
cassette tapes of his shows, which he played quietly and constantly.
The programs sounded plausible; throughout the eight-month life
of the social club no one, including Clough's colleagues, recognized
the programming as "fake".
The exhibition began
with the idea of "remodelling" the radio station interior
-something that the radio listener would not normally be able to
appreciate. Here we presented three glass-enclosed radio console
booths, fashioned after the art nouveau style, for the recording,
engineering, and broadcast of radio content. As well as broadcasting
a feed to the gallery space, the show was broadcast to the phone
lines at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, where it was heard
when you were put on hold. A portion of the radio content was also
produced and broadcast within the gallery for the duration of the
exhibition.