Sex Workers’ Internet Radio Lounge (SWIRL) (2006-2008)
The internet community art project “Sex Workers’ Internet Radio Lounge (SWIRL)” a 24/7 audio webstream and accompanying website, was dedicated to presenting audio works that gave a voice to current and former sex workers around the world by presenting their art and opinions, as well as community news and information. The content was created by current and former sex workers, including original music and sound art, stories and poetry, interviews, panel discussions and speeches. The broadcast ultimately included over 75 participants and over 30 hours of original audio (repeated daily or weekly, depending on the material). The SWIRL broadcast began in December 2006 and ran until May 2008.
SWIRL was created as part of my Ph.D. dissertation in music composition at the Stony Brook University. My work as a sound artist is always connected to a larger sociological picture. This work sought to expand the idea of a composer as an “organizer of sound” into a community art project that gave a voice to a community that is often relegated to silence -- sex workers. The audio-only format provided a level of necessary anonymity to sex workers that would not be possible with video.
Though sex workers created the content for SWIRL, my participation in the project was substantial. I collected the audio material, coordinated the project, provided post-production for the audio, and maintained both the website and the webstream. I myself conducted, recorded, edited and produced twelve interviews with sex worker artists and activists, traveling to Berlin and Amsterdam to conduct several of these interviews. I asked interviewees in advance what they would like to talk about and strived to represent their interests. I also produced a number of public service announcements and station identifications in collaboration with sex workers.
AUDIO EXAMPLES OF MY WORK FROM THE SWIRL PROJECT:
- Public service announcement for Sex Workers' Outreach Project/St. James Infirmary/Dept. of Public Health (San Francisco)
- Interview with HeJin, a sex worker rights activist, former sex worker, poet and writer in Amsterdam
- Interview with retired sex worker Stephanie Klee of Bundesverband Sexuelle Dienstleistungen (BSD) in Berlin
The internet community art project “Sex Workers’ Internet Radio Lounge (SWIRL)” a 24/7 audio webstream and accompanying website, was dedicated to presenting audio works that gave a voice to current and former sex workers around the world by presenting their art and opinions, as well as community news and information. The content was created by current and former sex workers, including original music and sound art, stories and poetry, interviews, panel discussions and speeches. The broadcast ultimately included over 75 participants and over 30 hours of original audio (repeated daily or weekly, depending on the material). The SWIRL broadcast began in December 2006 and ran until May 2008.
SWIRL was created as part of my Ph.D. dissertation in music composition at the Stony Brook University. My work as a sound artist is always connected to a larger sociological picture. This work sought to expand the idea of a composer as an “organizer of sound” into a community art project that gave a voice to a community that is often relegated to silence -- sex workers. The audio-only format provided a level of necessary anonymity to sex workers that would not be possible with video.
Though sex workers created the content for SWIRL, my participation in the project was substantial. I collected the audio material, coordinated the project, provided post-production for the audio, and maintained both the website and the webstream. I myself conducted, recorded, edited and produced twelve interviews with sex worker artists and activists, traveling to Berlin and Amsterdam to conduct several of these interviews. I asked interviewees in advance what they would like to talk about and strived to represent their interests. I also produced a number of public service announcements and station identifications in collaboration with sex workers.
AUDIO EXAMPLES OF MY WORK FROM THE SWIRL PROJECT:
- Public service announcement for Sex Workers' Outreach Project/St. James Infirmary/Dept. of Public Health (San Francisco)
- Interview with HeJin, a sex worker rights activist, former sex worker, poet and writer in Amsterdam
- Interview with retired sex worker Stephanie Klee of Bundesverband Sexuelle Dienstleistungen (BSD) in Berlin