Voices in the Static: Radio, Ritual, and the Invention of the Collective Dream
On the paranormal and poetic myths surrounding radio broadcasts between the warsIn the decades between the world wars, radio was more than a new technology—it was a revelation. Across Europe and America, listeners gathered around the set as if before an altar, entranced by disembodied voices whispering through the ether. Engineers became mystics, broadcasters became prophets, and the air itself seemed alive with intelligence.
Voices in the Static traces the forgotten convergence of radio, ritual, and mass imagination. It uncovers the spectral theories, artistic experiments, and occult philosophies that grew in the shadows of early broadcasting—from the séance-inspired transmissions of the 1920s to the dreamlike propaganda of the 1930s. In these overlapping myths, radio was understood not simply as a medium of communication, but as a device for summoning the collective unconscious.
Through archival fragments, reconstructed testimonies, and speculative histories, Voices in the Static reanimates a time when sound was sacred, and the dream of the modern world was first transmitted through static.
Voices in the Static
Edited by Sussanah Joseph