Eran Schaerf – fm-scenario

This intermedial project was based on Eran Schaerf’s radio plays, in particular Die Stimme des Hörers (2002), based on a fictitious radio station which takes listeners’ calls. Unlike classical call-in radio shows, however, there is no dialogue between the listeners and the radio DJ. Instead, the calls are taken and answered by a computer programme.
The project fm-scenario expanded on this automatized dialogue. On a website, users had the opportunity to access reports, features, stories and other audio modules and interactively produce a news mix. The final mix has then been broadcast by the Bayerischer Rundfunk in its radio play programme. It has also served as the basis for an exhibition and publication which translated the mix of news reports, call-ins and stories into a spatial and visual narrative format. Exhibitions have taken place at locations in Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, featuring five separately produced mixes. Each exhibition had its own structure and its own narrative. Drawing from the archive accessable at the online studio on fm-scenario.net (external link, opens in a new window)a curator compiled a montage which served Schaerf as a script for a performance for the camera. This performance took place in the exhibition space.
fm-scenario blurred the boundaries between news reporting and fiction. Our image of reality – as depicted in the world of news – is questionable when viewed critically. This project playfully presented media-critical models ranging from participative radio programmes to social networks. In the fictional scenario, the traditional roles of broadcaster and receiver, or news reporter and radio listener were dismantled. The possibilities and limits of automatized communication remind us that every concept of the world is influenced by special interests and power and is caught in a web of truth, reality, representation and fabrication.

Artistic directors: Joerg Franzbecker, Herbert Kapfer
Curators: Inke Arns, Joerg Franzbecker, Margit Rosen, Valerie Smith (US), Andrea Thal (CH)
Artist: Eran Schaerf

Broadcasting schedule:
Bayerischer Rundfunk, 31 Aug. 2012, 22 Feb. 2013, 21 June 2013, 13 Sept. 2013, 10 Jan. 2014, 11 April 2014, 28 Aug. 2015, 4 Sept. 2015

Podcasts: www.br.de/radio/bayern2/hoerspiel-pool/fm-scenario (external link, opens in a new window)

Exhibitions:
Berlin, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2. - 30 Sept. 2012
Dortmund, Hartware MedienKunstVerein , 16 Feb. - 1. Apr. 2013
Karlsruhe, ZKM, 22 June - 25 Aug. 2013
Ingolstadt, Museum für Konkrete Kunst, 15 Sept. - 10 Nov. 2013
Zurich, Les Complices*, April 10 – May 10, 2014
Brussels, Établissement d´en face, Sept. 4 – October 11, 2015

Online studio: www.fm-scenario.net (external link, opens in a new window)