SS: But that's not the case with the AR, is it? That project isn't anonymous at all.

BM: When these projects are ready to be sent out it just won't work if the first thing you see is my name in capitals, right? It's less important with the AR, but still, I wouldn't feel good about putting my name on the unit itself. With the other projects, it's very important that they blend in, at least initially.

SS: Do you think about your work as an activist or oppositional practice?

BM: Well, I don't know, I guess if you make an effort to be even mildly informed, how can you not end up in a state of opposition? Activism is important, especially now that the mainstream media is so thoroughly controlled. But I think I'm doing something else. I'm not sure what category it comfortably fits in.

SS: How do you see your work in relation to other art (past or current)?

BM: Well, there are certainly examples that could apply, but I think less and less about this. Or I just care less and less. It's not important to me that these projects fit into an art context. I find that what most interests me is outside of it, or acts as an alternative. The Yes Men come to mind. What they do is extraordinary. Locally, Lucky Pierre [an experimental performance group] has put together some very interesting stuff. And working with groups like Temporary Services can be very satisfying.

SS: How do you see the AR fitting into, or pushing against, sustainable design practices?

BM: I think some good stuff is happening in housing design. If you look honestly at our society, however, very little is sustainable in the long term. Sorry to bust out the doom, but it's just the way it is. So design that incorporates sustainable energy consumption is ahead of the curve. Everyone will have to square up to some hard realities eventually and probably sooner rather than later. The design for the AR is, for me, more about portability. Using a car battery allows you to put it anywhere you want, outdoors, on a roof, wherever. And you can recharge the battery using the solar panels. But you can also run it off of any regular AC electrical outlet. So I guess it's both a sustainable and nonsustainable design.

SS: We'll shift now to Temporary Services members Brett Bloom and Marc Fischer. After Brennan produced the Audio Relay, Temporary Services took over the role of coordinating its use in an ongoing series of presentations and short-term broadcasts, starting in Chicago and then going on to other cities. Could you talk about the parameters that you establish for the use of the AR and for the kinds of audio works that are included in the ever-growing audio archive that it houses and broadcasts as it travels?

Brett Bloom: Independent music, experimental audio, field recordings, radio plays, interviews- these are all welcome additions to the audio archive. We really like to see projects that push the AR so that it is not just transmitting, but maybe creating, as Brennan has said, some sort of phenomenon or phenomenological investigation. Radio waves are things in the world just like colored mud or precious metals and really are a lot more open for experimentation than the commerce-induced blandness of most radio.

We really hope to get material that is unique, not commercially available, and challenges our ideas of what can go in the AR. This has only happened on a couple of occasions. Usually we get material that isn't all that interesting. We try to set parameters for what gets included. When we do the programming ourselves and contact people to contribute, the quality has been high. But when we turn it over to others to solicit contributions, well, it hasn't been so satisfying. This is an ongoing process and experiment. With mainstream media (and I lump college radio in with this) there is a really closed down idea of how radio can function in the world. The AR should function in a way that doesn't reproduce the passive, consumptive model that dominates almost all radio at the moment.