Paperweight Radio Series 1 (Speaking:Writing:Research 2013)

The project Speaking:Writing:Research began as two six-part live radio series titled Paperweight: Explorations in Visual and Material Culture, broadcast weekly on Resonance 104.4FM. The first series was broadcast in September and October 2013; and the second series was broadcast in June and July 2014.

A live discussion show, this radio series brought together artists, designers, architects, curators, historians, theorists, writers and scientists to discuss topics within the field of Visual and Material Culture. The six themes for the first series were Ghosts, Light, Paper, Maker Culture, Mother/Daughter and The Ecological. The six themes for the second series were Collections, Animals, Domesticating the Modernist Body, Mixed Media, The Art School and Plastic.

My work as producer included conceiving of the concept for the show, developing the themes, identifying and booking guests, conducting pre-show interviews and research, drafting scripts and training guests for radio presentation of their work. I was also host of the live shows, introducing themes and topics and interviewing the guests.

The radio series evolved from an occasional newspaper I published and edited called Paperweight. I began this project as I was interested in the question of how academic work in visual and material culture could be communicated to a broad non-specialist audience. As the radio series developed, I also began to make links to how academic work is communicated more broadly, in terms of media theory and in relation to my own research focus on the history and theory of writing.