Eldoradio

In the framework of the 30th anniversary of the liberation of the radio waves in France, Bétonsalon proposes a journey into radio space via the archives of Eldoradio (click here), which have been assembled by radio aficionados over the last fifty years. Several researchers interested in this fond – whether for its quality as an archive constituted outside of institutional circuits or for its contribution to the memory of radio history – have been invited to explore it and to present the outcome of their research.

The various contributions constitute multiple ways of interpreting, annotating and sometimes correcting the documents on display and the fragments of radio history, which are represented in the exhibition. Offering a partial and non-exhaustive insight into the Eldoradio archive, the exhibition doesn’t attempt to retrace 30 years of radio; instead, it hopes to confront different possible uses and readings of documents attached to a radio history that yet has to be fully written.

In a nutshell, the artist Franck Leibovici has chosen to represent, in the form of a map, the structure and content of the archives put together by the members of Eldoradio. Thierry Lefebvre, radio historian, is confronting his book La Bataille des radios libres 1977-1981 (’The Battle of free radio 1977-1981’) (2008) to the documents and sounds found in Eldoradio’s archive through a visual and sonic timeline. Two documentaries by film director Isabelle Cadière are screened: Radio Lorraine Cœur d’Acier (2009) and a short film about radio and women, produced for the exhibition. Elisabete Fernandes, a student in Cinematographic Studies at Paris Diderot University, attempts to the retrace the trajectory of Radio Voka, an Antillean and Guyanan radio station active between June 1982 and August 1983 in the Paris region. The artists Louise Hervé et Chloé Maillet present Total restoration, a radiophonic fiction produced in the framework of France Culture’s Radiophonic creation workshop (ACR). Drawing from a selection of sound recordings, the collective L’encyclopédie de la parole proposes a newly-created sound piece, a public listening session and an analysis of the archives in the form of a public footnotes disseminated in the exhibition space. As for Eldoradio’s members, they have constituted a playlist of their archive accessible via a jukebox, while Bétonsalon’s team has made a selection of documents (posters, stickers, press clippings, photographs, magazines, etc.), which are commented and interpreted by a range of radio amateurs and professionals. This exhibition has also given rise to various collaborations with students and professors of Paris Diderot University. Amongst others, the students in ’scientific mediation’ taught by Thierry Lefebvre, Cécile De Bary and Richard Millet have conceived Bétonsalon’s Journal No. 10, as well as a short documentary introducing the organisation Eldoradio, its members and objectives.

Les différentes contributions produisent ainsi de multiples manières d’interpréter, d’annoter, de préciser, voire de corriger les documents exposés et les fragments de l’histoire de la radio qui sont représentés dans l’exposition. Proposant une vue partielle et non exhaustive des archives Eldoradio, l’exposition ne vise pas à retracer 30 ans de radio, l’enjeu est plutôt de confronter différents usages possibles de documents liés à une histoire de la radio trop peu écrite.

Numerous events including concerts, listening sessions, projections, talks, tours and workshops have been programmed throughout the exhibition which will culminate into a symposium organised by the Radio Research and Studies Group (GRER) on 20 and 21 May at Paris Diderot University.

Download the press release (in French)

Last part of the timeline inspired of Thierry Lefebvre’s book, "La bataille des radios libres (1977-1981), éd. Nouveau Monde INA, 2008", eldoradio.fr archives © photos Aurélien Mole

For more information on eldoradio.fr click here