Anna Friz in Residence

Description:

As part of the Reverie project, Anna Friz completed a residency at Western Front in which she developed numerous projects including Vacant City Radio and Automated Prayer Machine, and contributed an essay for the Reverie catalogue. 

Friz began research and development of Vacant City Radio, where she considered the fact that many transistor radios, particularly from Europe, were designed with the names of cities in place of frequencies on the dial. As shortwave broadcasting declined, tuning to these frequencies often yielded only static. To fill the space, Friz linked recordings made during 2001–02 in abandoned industrial spaces along the Lachine Canal in Montréal where in the following years would become lost, either replaced or renovated into condominiums. Friz created compositions and performance pieces mingling these radiophonic and acoustic traces, considering place and memory through soundscapes and pieces in the context of relatively new North American cities.

She also performed The Automated Prayer Machine which coincided with the launch of the virtual city of Reverie. It was a multimedia performance with musical instruments, recorded audio, projected video, and low-watt radio broadcasting by Annabelle Chvostek.