Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine Retrospective on Smart Rider Principles, Christmas Day

Tune in on Christmas Day 4m ET for a TELLUS Audio Cassette Magazine special presented by Smart Rider Principles. The program will explore the influential bimonthly subscription publication based in the Lower East Side, which released cassette compilations of avant-garde music. Originally launched in 1983 by visual artist and composer Joseph Nechvatal, curator Claudia Gould, and composer Carol Parkinson, TELLUS remained in operation for a decade, releasing 27 issues between 1983 – 1993.

The show doubles as a tribute to the public art pioneer Doris C. Freedman, who founded the arts organization Public Art Fund in 1977. Together with Jenny Dixon, Public Art Fund’s inaugural director, Freedman hosted a weekly radio show on WNYC called “Artists in the City.” On December 24, 1984, “Artists in the City” aired a Christmas special that was entirely devoted to the TELLUS project. With permission from WNYC, Smart Rider Principles will be re-airing this broadcast 41 years later.

In addition, the program will present the TELLUS #22 cassette, FALSE PHONEMES, in its entirety, along with selected highlights from other TELLUS releases.

Given Freedman’s lifelong commitment to experimentation, which was often realized through the placement of sculpture in unconventional public sites, TELLUS is, no doubt, a kindred spirit. Its appearance on “Artists in the City” draws our attention to the sculptural and architectural dimensions of sound itself.