# 169. Independent sound art, radiophonic projects and other audio non-visual misunderstandings and findings. WELCOME TO CHARLEROI. A two-part radio-phonic sound walk through Charleroi; a historic city. We look at the city as a concept and and the backdrop of an thought experiment.
WELCOME TO CHARLEROI
Interviews and sound collages by Lg Simonis and H Bakker.
Music by: Jean D.L. and Sandrine Verstraete, Kosmose, Bene Gesserit, Pseudocode, Human Flesh.
Thanks to: Le Vecteur, Nico, Jean, Sandrine, Alain, Nadine.
Text: Simonis, Bakker and WORM: https://worm.org/projects/eurofuturism/
Because of the Worm-Eurofuturisme festival, Dr Klangendum was sent out to figure out the Belgian city of Charleroi. Once you’re there, you see an industrial past, a fragile, dying city centre, new constructions in a large bruised space, fly-overs and rail roads. The trip became a city safari through decaying factory grounds, densely wooded hills and narrow, closed-off alleyways in the centre. A centre of something that doesn’t need one. This, and other questions popped in the Dr’s mind. People spoke of avant-garde and impressionist sound makers who where touched by Charleroi, usually because they used to live there or grew up in the area. And they wandered through the lanes of Charleroi in an effortless way. Maybe that was it. But it was a lot of nothing of questionable quality. Dr number 1 looked through impressionists’ glasses in search of the ‘Charleroi feeling’ and facing the dilemmas of a unique selling point. Dr number 2 was more reasonable and wondered how the theme of ‘The Great Loss’ fitted into the concept of a subsidy-guzzling Zombie paradise.
Commentary by Dr number 1;
I often think a bad economy works wonders for culture and your mood. The opposite was proven by effortlessly by cities like London, San Francisco, New York and Paris, where you have to have a good earning job just to afford a small studio apartment. Those who want to become an artist in these cities have to be lucky and have rich parents or work so hard, they’re no money left to create an artistic bubble. Charleroi is the exact opposite. It’s not quite as bad as Detroit, because West-Europe, like a gentleman, keeps subsidizing the bottomless, hopeless city as a kind of Cargo-cult; if you keep throwing money at it, it will undoubtedly attract more and other money.
