A silence meant to be heard: LIGNA’s radio ballet

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of sound in the transformation of social space and organization of noncentered group action through a case study of the series of radio ballets programmed by the German artist collective LIGNA. Typically, LIGNA uses portable audio devices and wireless technology to disseminate instructions to the radio ballet participants, directing them to make synchronized body gestures but not giving them fixed movement paths or identities. This process creates a conceptualized acoustic space parallel to the physical space, challenges the regulations that come with the privatization of public spaces, and dismantles the dichotomies between inside and outside, public and private, and physical and mental. I argue that the radio ballet participants, who form a decentralized, temporary, and mobile community, can explore new possibilities for political intervention in the public sphere through silent collective performances in which sound not only serves the important function of sidestepping visual censorship and avoiding physical conflict but also provides a new methodology for reshaping the order of social space.