TO COMMUNICATE

“To Communicate” is a composition for radio transmissions, feedback and live electronics by Andrea Gava created in collaboration with Sante Gava.
“To Communicate” is also a site-specific performance that begins with the installation of an antenna designed and built by my father Sante Gava, radio amateur ‘till the late 70s with the name IZ3CIX, at the performance site, alongside with a radio. The signals captured with it during the concert are then processed in real time and combined with live electronics and free improvisation to create a new soundscape based on the inaudible radio communication waves that surround us in every moment. The antenna, conceived, designed and built specifically for every concert location, enters in dialogue with the architecture of the space and becomes an actual installation. For this reason “To Communicate” is not just a concert but a project that involves sound, science and technology, DIY, architecture, electronics and much more.

“To Communicate” is a project that intertwines sonic research with a deeply personal dimension. Through radio waves, noise and hidden soundscapes, the piece explores the expressive potential of radio signals as living matter, unveiling a constantly shifting acoustic environment. Noise, code signals, human voices, everything become both a space and language: a field where sounds emerge, overlap and disappear through interference, listening and discovery.
At the same time, “To Communicate” is an attempt to build a dialogue — a bridge between father and son, across generations and different languages — where sound becomes a tool for connection and a possibility for relationship. An open-ended process shaped by attempts, misunderstandings and mutual listening.

World Premiere played on OrganoMotore, acusmonium built by Nicola Facchini and Giuseppe De Benedittis.
More info:
https://organomotore.com

Recorded live at Villa Davia, Borgo di colle ameno, Sasso Marconi (BO) on the 7th May 2025.

That concert was part of the collective contemporary art exhibition "Closer" by Studio Yoshida, Spazio relativo and Adiacenze, dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi in his 150th birthday anniversary and to the radio.
More info:
https://www.instagram.com/spazio_relativo/

Second performance on the 22nd of February 2026 for "Radia. Mini-festival di radioascolto" together with Sante Gava (IZ3CIX).
More info:
https://radiafestival.com/

Watch the full concert here:
https://youtu.be/cb5KKJ1331Y?is=lNOVJ5Qh1VCrAGlG

“To Communicate” became also an original radio show commissioned by USMARADIO (www.usmaradio.org), Interdepartmental Research Center for Radiophony of the University of the Republic of San Marino, a research center for innovative international radio practice and its pedagogies. This show was transmitted by Radia.fm (www.radia.fm), a network of more than 30 indipendent radios from all over the world. Each and every week, one of the partners of RadiaFM provides the network program, commissioned and produced especially for being broadcasted by all the partners and made available online.
The full show is available here: http://radia.fm/2026/03/show-1095-to-communicate-usmaradio/