The Plain A.I.R. artist-in-residence this month is Hilarey Cowan, presenting Current Temperature. Current Temperature is an audio experiment in calming informational services. Stemming from a long-held interest in (automatic) weather broadcasting and in response to rapid growth in ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) content over recent years, this hour of radio aims to intertwine these typically discrete types of service.

Tune in every Saturday in January from 3-4pm to listen or head over at CJTR.ca after the broadcast for the show archive.

How to Listen:

• 91.3FM on the dial in the Regina area
• Via on-line streaming over at cjtr.ca
• Via our free, downloadable CJTR app (available in app stores)
• Via the free RadioPlayerCanada app or TuneIn Radio app (available in app stores, search for CJTR)
• TV Channel 806 on the Sasktel Max System
• TV Channel 700 on the Access Communications digital service
• After the broadcast, on the Plain A.I.R page on CJTR

ABOUT HILAREY: Hilarey Cowan (she/her) is an artist, researcher and adaptable freelancer, working between video, sculpture, digital media and performance. After several years abroad she is currently reconnecting with her prairie roots on Treaty 4 Territory, while examining her place and voice as a settler within Canada’s colonial history and reality. Her work explores ideas around labour, care, alienation, networks, geography and touch.

ABOUT PLAIN A.I.R.: What happens when radio is considered a creative space similar to a laboratory, studio or venue, supporting expression and experimentation?

Plain A.I.R.is an artist-in-residence radio program that airs on 91.3FM CJTR, Regina’s community radio station. Each month the program features a different local artist, DJ, musician, band or community member as a guest host who programs a month’s worth of live, weekly radio shows. The program airs Saturday afternoons from 3-4pm.

The Plain A.I.R. (November 2020) artist-in-residence is V, presenting a special listener-interactive storytelling experience called The Garden; details below. Tune in every Saturday in November from 3-4pm to listen and as well as the Plain A.I.R. page for the broadcast archive!

‘A good definition of art, it seems to me, might be the science of making meaning-making tools.’ Garth Greenwell, for Harper’s Magazine

THE GARDEN is a malleable fiction told over four parts. told through the frame of a STUDENT-TRAVELLER documenting their journey as they pass through a strange realm full of powerful mystery, it is a piece of storytelling conceived to experiment with the bonds that tether artist and audience together. it also stands as an exploration into unconventional ways of connecting with one another during these times of extreme isolation and mass psychological distress.

listeners are positioned as a DIVINE COLLECTIVE- a great, intangible entity that is, by virtue of the fiction’s transmission, able to observe the STUDENT-TRAVELLER as they document their progress for their unseen beloved. Those who observe the journey as it airs will be presented with the opportunity to influence the direction of the STUDENT and the nature of what they encounter.

THE STORY SO FAR – MALLEABLE FICTION

The Garden – Part 1:

• AUDIO FOR PART 1 OF THE GARDEN
• TEXT FOR PART 1 OF THE GARDEN

intro / outro music: ‘may avalon heal you’ by witchknife 

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR THE DIVINE COLLECTIVE:

• listen to the story’s broadcast (on the airwaves at 91.3FM or via the CJTR website) during November 2020. each part will close with the STUDENT-TRAVELLER actively seeking guidance as they contemplate the next phase of their journey.
• an accompanying social media post will be made available across different platforms as each part airs, as well as an email address that can be messaged. the address and the posts will serve as temporary portals through which the DIVINE COLLECTIVE may influence the story. posts & messages will be observed for 48 hours after each broadcast, and the overall result from the collective input (reactions, comments, messages, etc) will be integrated into the next installment of the story.
• there will be multiple iterations of each post as they are shared by several accounts across different platforms.
• Individuals engaging as part of the collective may interact with as many or as few of the portals as they wish, and are encouraged to respond to the STUDENT as literally or as abstractly as they see fit. the accounts and addresses that will be monitored for input from the divine collective is as follows: @thegarden.cjtr on instagram and @thegarden_cjtr twitter   and via thegarden.cjtr@gmail.com
• discriminatory, disrespectful, or abusive behaviour will not be tolerated. This explicitly includes (but is not limited to) racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia and anti-disability prejudice.
• input from the DIVINE COLLECTIVE will be integrated as faithfully as possible each week, with the understanding that there will be a certain element of open-endedness to the storytelling process.
• this piece was created with experimentation in mind, not ‘goodness’ or ‘success’ as such. please be reminded that the opportunity for failure remains actively present throughout the process and to extend kindness and understanding when possible as the story is collectively brought to bear.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

V is the progeny of colonizers. they are an undefined artist, sprung from what is known as treaty 4 land. they use art as a survival mechanism to pursue expression, connection, pleasure, and freedom in the face of crushing systemic despair.

👉 👉 What happens when radio is considered a creative space similar to a laboratory, studio or venue, supporting expression and experimentation?

👉 👉 👉 Plain A.I.R.is an artist-in-residence radio program that airs on 91.3FM CJTR, Regina’s community radio station. Each month the program features a different local artist, DJ, musician, band or community member as a guest host who programs a month’s worth of live, weekly radio shows. The program airs Saturday afternoons from 3-4pm between January and June (Season 1) and September and December (Season 2) in 2020.

The Plain A.I.R. (September 2020) returning artist-in-residence is the Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum! The SACHM is a provincial organization whose primary purpose is to celebrate, explore, research, document and preserve the history, heritage and contributions of people of African ancestry. It is dedicated to helping people of African ancestry preserve and gain access to information about their history, appreciate their heritage and recognize the contributions that African descent individuals have made in Saskatchewan.

Tune in every Saturday in September from 3-4pm to hear their stories, recorded by Zoom.

👉 👉 What happens when radio is considered a creative space similar to a laboratory, studio or venue, supporting expression and experimentation?

👉 👉 👉 Plain A.I.R.is an artist-in-residence radio program that airs on 91.3FM CJTR, Regina’s community radio station. Each month the program features a different local artist, DJ, musician, band or community member as a guest host who programs a month’s worth of live, weekly radio shows. The program airs Saturday afternoons from 3-4pm between January and June (Season 1) and September and December (Season 2) in 2020.

Image: Saskatchewan’s only black pioneer settlement, in the Eldon district north of Maidstone. Courtesy of Leander Lane.