The ffiles (fka XX Files) is an intersectional feminist media collective grounded in community radio. Through innovative programming, the collective produces work that explores our current technological landscape in the broadest sense. Their work reflects an interest in themes that center around but are not limited to transmission practices, sound healing, electronic music discourse, noise, techno-feminisms, the voice, and much more.
The collective hosts a weekly radio show on CKUT 90.3 FM every Wednesday at 11:30 AM EST, as well as a monthly show on Montreal’s N10.AS. They also program and present live audio-visual performances, artist talks, pirate radio installations and DJ sets.
The ffiles is committed to validating and disseminating the voices and work of artists who face systemic barriers as a result of their race, sexuality, gender, lifestyle, class, ability. Through their programming, the collective seeks to create space for marginalized artists within the local scene, while mindfully trying to resist processes of tokenization and commodification in their efforts to participate in and contribute to anti-oppressive community networks.
Started by Deborah VanSlet and Kathy Kennedy, The ffiles first aired in 1996. In 1997, Valérie d. Walker joined the show that she will fuel for over 16 years along with co-hosts Anita Cotic, Bérengère Marin-Dubuard. In 2010, she welcomed Britt Wray. In 2011, the co-hosts Maia Iotzova and Maya Richman, and in 2014, Stéphanie Dufresne, aka Fanie de la Fresne, Amanda-É. Clément and Nnedimma Nnebe, aka The Urban Dweller.
The current team is composed of Julia Dyck, Amanda Harvey, Miranda Jones, Sophy Merizzi and Sophie Marisol. To learn more about the history of the ffiles, listen here.
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Interview with Fée Lehouillier(?), Sextant Films producer and Cinemagraphic Events producer, presenting Sunamix Screenings at the Society for Arts and Technologies (SAT), and describing the production company and project.
Interview with Raylene Campbell, speaking about deep listening and her sound work.
Re-broadcast of Donna Haraway’s talk, entitled “We have never been human: Companion species in nature cultures”.
Anna Friz reporting on the “In and Out of the Sound Studio” conference by Professor Andra McCartney and others, at Concordia University. Conference speaker Professor Jackie Zawadski, discussing her RGB project and the RGB color walks through the city.
Pre-recorded talk by Heidi Grundmann of KUNSTRADIO, cultural reporter, art and theatre critic, editor, program producer at the Austrian National Radio/TV since the 1970s, best known for her role in organizing telematic and network art projects since the 70s and for creating the radio program KUNSTRADIO-RADIOKUNST (original artworks for radio) in 1987. Heidi has curated and organized many international events and exhibitions related to art practice in electronic media, specifically radio, tv and the Internet.
Interview with Deanne Achong, Studio XX’s Virtual Artist in Residency, visiting from Vancouver, speaking about her project “A Bird in the Google”.
Part 1 of talk by Donna Haraway, who is a professor and former chair of the Influential History of Consciousness Program at University of California. Haraway delivered a lecture as part of the Elizabeth McNab & D. Lorne Gales series of public lectures to be given by leading scholars in the field of history of science studies, at McGill University, entitled “We have never been human: Companion species in nature cultures”.
Interview with Kapwani Kiwanga, radio documentary and audio visual artist, currently working on a new media commission.
Pre-recorded talk by Ann Balsamo, digital media producer, critic and author of “Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women”, from her talk at Concordia University, “XFR: Experiments in the Future of Reading”.
Interview with Tamara Vulkov (a.k.a Pomgrenade), resident artist at the GIV and Studio XX discussing her “Women in the Web” project.
Interview with Caroline Martel and Suzanne Binet-Audet, discussing the The Ondes Martenot, an early electronic musical instrument with a keyboard and slide invented in 1928 by
Maurice Martenot, and originally very similar in sound to the Theremin.
Caroline discusses her film “Phantom of the Operator” and her collaboration with Suzanne Binet-Audet, a composer of electroacoustic music who composed the soundtrack to the film.
Constant Collective featuring Wendy Van Wynsberghe, Laurence Rassel ande Marie-Françoise Steward-Ebel, Belgian sound artists, discussing their Htmlles project, presentation and actions.
Interview with Raylene Campbell, deep listening/sound artist, on her Htmlles 7 performance “ I dream eye”. Raylene speaks of deep listening, playing the accordion, Pauline Oliveros and the accordion-interactive-tech-connections, and the New Expanded Instrument System created by Pauline Oliveros and Stephan Moore available as plug-in to MAX/Msp.
Interview with Karen Wong, programming coordinator for Htmlles, presenting information on Htmlles 7, as well as projects and contributors.