Transmission

2025
Sculpture

Materials: FM transmitter, electronic components, plexiglass enclosure.

Transmission is a sculpture built around a functioning low-power FM transmitter, drawing on the improvised transmission systems used by London pirate radio stations in the late 1990s.

The transmitter is housed within a tall black structure whose controls reference the language of pirate broadcasting. Although technically capable of transmitting, the device remains inactive: operating it without an assigned frequency would constitute an unlicensed broadcast.

The work holds the transmitter in a state of suspended potential, physically capable of sending a signal but prevented from doing so. Transmission considers broadcasting not only as a means of communication, but as something shaped by access, regulation and control of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Legal context

FM broadcasting in Germany requires an assigned frequency. The radio spectrum is administered by the Bundesnetzagentur, and operating a transmitter without the necessary frequency assignment can constitute unauthorised frequency use.

References:

TKG §108 Abs. 6 →
Bundesnetzagentur – Broadcasting spectrum →
BNetzA info on unlicensed frequency use →