Raffle Radio Game is an interactive performance piece for performer, public, 30 radio receivers, and various instruments by Stephanie Pan. The piece was commissioned by Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, and had its initial performance on 1 Feb 2014.
Presented in the guise of a lottery drawing, the performance entangles the public in a game of control and intimacy. In lieu of prizes as the lottery numbers are drawn, multiple ‘winners’ are asked to become human discoballs and antennas, and porters for the radios, which are slowly distributed throughout the crowd. Secured to the space via long lengths of organza ribbon, the distribution of the radios creates a maze of ribbons, which in turn get tangled between different radios, bystanders and strangers from across the room. As the chaos increases, people push and pull the ribbons in an effort to untangle their radios, unsuccessfully, but become aware of their surroundings and temporary neighbours. After the radios are distributed the performer finally retreats to her music installation, where she plays a small, intimate song which is then transmitted over 3 different frequencies in parts; the voice appears only in 10 radios, the autoharp in another 10, and the beat in the last 10. Collectively the public helps perform a spatialized version of the small song, thus concluding the piece.
