ABSTRACT HUMAN RADIO

Words: Keeley Thompson

Inspire: “to infuse (as life) by breathing”

from Latin inspirare (“to breathe or blow into”)

Abstract Human Radio (Abhura) is the creative project of Meanjin audio-visual artist, Fin Wegener that provides its audience with the space and place to reconnect with oneself. The project serves as a reminder of the power of awe, childlike play and of the importance of no-thing-ness.

Exploring live music performance, audio-visual installation and interactivity, Abhura creates bespoke experiences that celebrate tangible connections to art and the moment. Through supported silence and interactive play, Abstract Human Radio provides the foundations to experience (or re-experience) individual and collective joy, inspiration and curiosity.

KEELEY: Let’s start at the start. Where did your relationship with music and music making begin?

FIN: My relationship with music goes back a long time actually. I started taking piano lessons around the age of six and moved to guitar, drums and singing throughout high school where I played in rock and punk bands. I kind of did it all.

KEELEY: So then, how did Abstract Human Radio begin?

FIN: Abstract Human Radio kind of grew from the ashes of those band years. During COVID I got more interested in things like field recordings, surround sound and ambient music production. A lot of ideas came from (and out of) the place of unknowing that COVID created.

The Abstract Human Radio moniker became the umbrella term for all of that, including the projections and the more philosophically inclined works too.

KEELEY: You’ve done some really cool explorations in music, such as the Human Theremin. How did that come about?

FIN: That stemmed from some techniques I was playing with at the end of my Undergraduate Degree in Music Technology. That project grew out of wanting to interact with music in a more physical, intuitive, fluid way.

KEELEY: Did you go into Abstract Human Radio with a vision or did it kind of direct itself?

FIN: I came into things with a bit of a vision about how I thought I would do things, but a lot of it has been technologically guided as I became more aware of limitations (and possibilities).

I also got funding from Brisbane City Council through Creative Sparks to develop a work with a long time collaborator Lauren Sherlock. We’ve been working to create a dance, choreography based project applying the Human Theremin which is happening on the 8th and 9th of December at Ventspace.

KEELEY: Tell me (and the readers) about this exhibition!

FIN: The Human Theremin exhibition is really about allowing everyone to be both a performer and a creator through interaction with the machine. The exhibit is going to be in four parts = two will be performed by Lauren and the other two by the audience. So they’ll get to see how it could be performed, but the audience will have a chance to perform themselves too.

It’s a very collaborative event and I’m very excited for it.

KEELEY: Do you think your creative output has changed as you’ve changed?

FIN: That’s an interesting question!

I think as I’ve changed (and as I’ve progressed through Abstract Human Radio), I’ve stopped thinking about writing music as something that’s linear or binary. I kind of approach it now as a collection of possibilities.

KEELEY: What would be your dream for Abstract Human Radio?

FIN: I’d love to see it be more collaborative. The most magical points have been working with contemporary dancers like Lauren and playing yoga classes with Julia Beiers. Involving more people and more perspectives to make something really special is the most rewarding part of the musician's life that I’m embarking on right now.

KEELEY: Three desert island albums?

FIN: The Mattson 2 Meets Ray Barbee would be one. Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening because it just encapsulates so much of how I like to think about music. And The Well-Tuned Piano by La Monte Young.

KEELEY: Where do you get inspiration from both musically and in general life?

FIN: I’m really inspired by natural phenomena - a lot of my musical practice comes from field recordings. The ambient pieces I’ve been creating recently (and will be releasing soon) are all constructed in response to field recordings that I’ve taken in different places. The most recent track Glide was built on a field recording from Ubud, Bali of some night-time rice paddies. I take field recordings back to the studio, immerse myself in it and create music from there rather than from a place of silence.

KEELEY: If you were showing someone around Brisbane where would you take them?

FIN: We’re so lucky in Brisbane to be so close to nature so maybe even just Enoggera Reservoir but watch out for the leeches. Or Mount Glorious and Mount Nebo. The Bayside is a hidden gem too.

Or Archives Fine Books in the CBD.

KEELEY: What’s your favourite book?

FIN: Oh gosh that’s a tough question because I read so much. I’d say Henry David Thoreau’s Walden though.

KEELEY: How do you navigate being a creative in the world we live in now?

FIN: I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and talking to a lot of other artists (particularly musicians) about how to navigate it. I think my guiding philosophy at the moment is ‘follow what is unique about you’ because although it’s a very unfairly competitive environment (particularly in Australia right now), there’s always value in something that’s unique and new.

If you chase that and be sensitive to who values it, you can find your niche.

Creating and experiencing art can be very cathartic and I think it’s almost the antithesis to the scary world we live in now. Doing things like the deep listening shows and the yoga shows provides both me and the people there with the space and place to think, be and feel nothing. To be zero. Giving that supported silence is how I think (and hope) I can help people deal with living in this big, wide, scary world.

KEELEY: What’s your go-to cocktail?

FIN: Negroni. Every time.

Actually, an Americano. It’s basically a Negroni but in a tall glass with soda.

KEELEY: What’s something you think everyone should try or do once in their life?

FIN: My first thought is probably meditation. Coming back to the supported silence thing, We live in a society that pushes us to constantly either produce or consume. The only way to escape that is to do nothing.

I think if we spend a little bit more time in silence and the no-thing, we can cultivate a bit more space or clarity and meditation is that. ‘In the stillness of the pond the mud sinks to the bottom’.

KEELEY: What can people expect to see from you next?

FIN: I’ve got the Theremonic exhibition at Ventspace as I mentioned earlier. Also have a lot more ambient music in the pipeline! Keep your eyes and ears open.

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