By using records, cassettes, and a radio transmitter to perform live sound collages, Kristen Roos pays homage to the history of the phonograph, tape and radio as tools for the development of experimental sound art. His alternative use of commercial media is also a Situationist technique—detournement, in which a familiar medium is re-purposed to create something new.

The Micro Radio project started as a site-specific sound and radio project in 2005. It involved collecting site specific sounds, creating compositions, and broadcasting them back to the collection site. Roos stored the sounds on his laptop and broadcast using a low-power radio transmitter (capable of transmitting 150 feet).

In 2006, Roos began experimenting with a radio transmitter and antenna capable of broadcasting one kilometer. Audio can be downloaded from his broadcasts page.

The project has evolved into a mobile performance which mixes prerecorded field recordings stored on cassette, one off lacquer records, and Roos’s laptop. The performance is amplified through broadcasting to radios, and any existing sound system at the venue. He has also started live community radio station broadcasts, and is in the process of organizing a radio station tour in the fall. Download an essay on the micro radio project here.