Project: S.E.T.A.

 S.E.T.A.  Search for Extra-Terrestrial Audiences

SETA is a sonic installation in the format of a radio station. It is an entirely solo project of composer Tanya Thielke.

The installation will have continually evolving content, and the presentation or curation process will also be modified over time to allow for continuing unique listener experiences.  It is designed to be tuned into at any time. Listeners are already tuning in to the work in progress. 

I wanted to capture the feeling of encountering an unknown radio station in the middle of the night in a unfamiliar area.  Anyone who has done a lot of travel by car into more remote areas in this country has probably had an experience like this. It tends to be memorable.

The other feeling I wanted to capture is that of hearing mysterious transmissions from unknown sources on a shortwave radio, especially that first encounter with SW.

I was also inspired by accounts of ghost radio stations, and radio beacons.

Finally, the process of composing with sound and noise has led me to the conclusion that a new musical form is necessary; at the very least, one must rethink what composition even is when utilizing sounds and noise as opposed to any structured pitch based/harmonic approach. It is easy to imagine an alien species will not only have some form of organized sound, but it could in fact not be like our music in ANY way. 

I have put myself the creative think-tank task of writing music for non-terrestrial audiences in "Music for Other Worlds, on the premise that deep  within sound structures are other structures that reveal an architecture that can be used to organize a "composition".

The S.E.T.A project blends all of these ideas and influences into a sonic experience. I would love to turn this on-line radio station into an actual one, with no change other than its transmission mode. It seems FTC regulations have closed that door some time ago, but I will continue to be hopeful that the option will become available.