Sound/body/labour

The Ultra-Red group mentioned in Susan Kelly's article is a collaborative group of with a level of political activism that explores social issues such as public health, homophobia, education, public housing, public trading and immigration through sound art. The group not only consists of artists but also researchers and organisers from different social movements. They saw that they, as musicians, had the potential to break away from from the monopoly of universal signification by transforming the soundscape of everyday life.

From their website - "Some take their music, their noise, to the streets, claiming a space against its official uses or, conversely, reterritorialising it for its official use."

Their 'works in progress' are entitled "PS/Occupations" - Public Space/Occupations. There are eight 'occupations' in total, and all are works about social issues. For example, their first public space action was 'Soundtrax' (1992-1996) and was a collaboration with LA's first clean needle exchange program, 'Clean Needles Now', involving a number of performances and installations.

Another of their works began an inquiry into the impact of neoliberal economic policies on low-income homes in Los Angeles. Specifically the residents of public housing in east LA.

"We believe in a grassroots movement that puts into question the essential relationships on which the system is based. The focal point of these cultural campaigns is the evolution of political conviction into artistic actions and vice versa. We will present cultural performances as political actions because everyone is artist and activist at the same time."

The focus of the two-year collaboration with Union de Vecinos was the residents' resistance to demolition and displacement. The overall themes address the impact of public policy on public housing residents and the ways in which language is used to rationalise demolition. The four Ultra-Red installations were multimedia works—involving combinations of video, soundscape, photography and framed testimonies—and participatory, involving artists and residents.

Ultra-red's approach brought a new perspective to the thinking of the key organizers and in turn to the residents as well as to the artists.