Go Live in the Middle of Nowhere Obviously

When might ambience be considered toxic? What signs do bodies signal when the noise of environmental pollution becomes too much? How can art practice translate and transform that which is felt?

This article reflects on a practice-based project called "Go Live in the Middle of Nowhere Obviously" that was installed as part of the group exhibition "Hyperobjects" at Catalyst Arts, Belfast, 2019. I draw attention to electromagnetic hypersensitivity, a condition that effects the health of humans and nonhumans, and is a consequence of increasing anthropogenic ambience emitted from electronic devices such as phones, televisions and wi-fi. Electromagnetic fields that radiate from technologies can reportedly produce symptoms such as burning sensations, chronic fatigue and nausea. As yet there is no official acceptance of the condition within scientific or medical disciplines.

Sound arts have long dealt with the electromagnetic spectrum, concentrating efforts primarily on the vibrant and musical energies of such matters including the sounds of cosmic events along with the rhythms and pulses of urban infrastructures. Such works productively expand notions of the acoustic field beyond the human but might be said to lack critical engagement in the consequences and impacts of electromagnetic radiation itself. Within a time of climate catastrophe and vast anthropogenic influence the question becomes how can we entangle a vibrant materialist appreciation of the electromagnetic spectrum with a sensitivity towards the social-political impacts on health, across species?