OPEN CALL: Radiovisionen

Radiovisionen: a series of productions and a prologue look back at a
confrontation with the future of the medium radio. The format of Radiovisionen places the focus on the future, as seen against a historical backdrop. The development of and practical reflection on utopian and dystopian visions of radiophony form the center of Radiovisionen - 250 Years of Radio. The title suggests a chance to gain insight beyond current discussions of technical developments, and the subtitle is a both fictional and an historical anticipation: a double flip with a twist. As bold as these concepts might appear, their intent is serious. Independent from the actual business of broadcasting, the planned discussions of radio's future should reach well beyond questions of ratings and format, registering constructive demands on
the medium itself.

Prologue
The project begins with one weekend in March, 2007: the prologue.
Artists, scientists, radiomakers, futurologists, and related thinkers
come together in an informal context to present their visions of the
future and discuss their work in an interdisciplinary environment.
Attention will not only focus on new media in general and radio in
particular, but also on political, economic, and sociological trends
and utopias. The prologue will be documented using various media; its
goal is to determine materials and scenarios for four radio visions,
which will be developed by selected artists and presented on four
weekends in October, 2007. Radio visions are Science-Fiction.

Production
In order to cover the broadest possible spectrum of subjects and
interests, the four radio visions should have very different points
of departure. Productions should emerge which are independent from
the contemporary broadcasting business. Radiovisionen grants the
invited artists as much freedom as possible to find the most
appropriate form to communicate their conceptions. A minimum of 5000
EUR and the Tesla Berlin Studio are available for the realization of each
vision. In addition, Deutschland-radio Kultur, WDR, SWR, ORF, and the c-base have expressed interest in cooperation.

Program
The highlights are the premières of the four radio visions: four
designs for a radio of the future, an invitation to reflect on what
radio can achieve and signify in the future; ideally, a stimulus for
the daily routine of the media. The radio visions will be presented
Fridays and Saturdays from October 5th until the 27th, 2007 in the Kubus of Tesla. In the week after each première, the supporting program will include discussions, lectures and presentations of historic utopian visions of radio. In addition, listening stations will provide access to previous presentations and materials from the prologue.

Parallels
The process of Radiovisionen has indirect forerunners in other media;
examples can be found in the proto-LSD novel, "St. Petri Schnee", by
Leo Perutz (Vienna, 1933); Robert Scheckley's, "The Prize of Peril"
(1958), which was the model for Wolfgang Menge's and Tom Toelle's
"Das Millionenspiel" (WDR, 1970) - killer TV in reality format - or
Stanislav Lem's "Wielko urojona" (1973), a series of fictional reviews.

People
Radiovisionen will be supervised by Martina Groß, Andreas Hagelüken,
Séamus O'Donnell, Moritz von Rappard and Johannes Wilms - the team
from Radiotesla, which has presented "programs, fragments and
impressions from the past, present and future of radio," since 2005
in the Podewils'sches Palais.

Contact
Please send comments, questions, and project proposals before November 30, 2006 to:
Tesla Berlin / RADIOTESLA, Moritz von Rappard, Klosterstraße 68, 10179 Berlin or: production.mvr@tesla-berlin.de