Radio Gardening is an experimental and decentralised form of radio-making and performative archiving. The project was initiated by Monaí de Paula Antunes in mid-2020 as part of a residency programme organised between cultural institutions in Lagos and Berlin.
Prevented from travelling to Nigeria as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, de Paula Antunes set up a remote participatory sound archive, compiling sounds from Lagos, which documented the emergence of a new communal garden in the Nigerian city. The archive included conversations about planning, weeks of construction sounds, the daily life of workers, sounds of the transformations taking place and more. On the ground in Lagos, Tushar Hathiramani and Seetal Solanki activated communities and non-human agents, connecting them to different places and involving them in the radio-making process. T-Shine-baba, contributed a variety of experimental forms of sonic expression, sharing not only his own creative voice but many other voices from the streets of Lagos that he encountered during the process. These sounds and other documentation of the process are archived on the @sonicgarden Telegram group and online at radiogardening.space.
For Theatrum Mundi’s conference Sonic Urbanism: Listening to Non-Human Life in early 2021, this archive was “performed” by combining selected pre-recorded sounds with live readings, testimonials, chats, interviews and songs by T-Shine-baba and Tushar in Lagos, and Seetal in London. Niko de Paula Lefort also participated as a special guest, modulating the sounds through a transmission environment set up with Monaí in Blanca, Spain. The performance brought together diverse voices and sonic content and builds on Monaí’s practice of “cross-casting”, whereby listeners are able to directly participate in the sounds and production of a radio station.
This contribution reflects the experimental and decentralised nature of Radio Gardening. It features a fragmented lyrical essay by Monaí de Paula Antunes, visual poems by Tushar Hathiramani and Seetal Solanki that respond to the essay, and a transcribed and translated voice note by T-Shine-baba.
[Publisher’s note: We were sad to learn of the loss of T-Shine-baba, Nigerian recording artist and contributor to Radio Gardening in Lagos project, in September 2021. As well as singing across fújì, Afro-pop and Yoruba chanting, T-Shine supported creative work opportunities for young people as part of the Streetlights Collective employment programme.]