Further All the Time

Words by Holly Venable

Prone, passive, siloed
Indurated and sepulchred
An evolutionary imprint lies out of range, not receiving
Waiting for our sign

Yet the energy in the earth is a determinate circuit
A cleavage, a fault, a causal rift
Capturing a signal that becomes a wave spectrum then a modulation
Touching from a distance

An auxiliary input
Carries pricks of sibilance, hiss, signs of life
Transference is making the crossing
Further all the time

The static inversion crackles into life
A signal pair of conducting lines
Two herz balanced in thin air
Transmission

Artist Statement

Further All the Time addresses our growing descent into self-isolation and the deleterious effect of a life that relies on digital technology. It also conveys a hope of picking up a signal outside ourselves that will jolt us to search for an analogue to reconnect us and make our existence viable. The words used are a rearrangement of radio terminology. A balanced signal pair is a transmission line consisting of two conductors of the same type that reduce interference by means of a third conductor, which, employed as a shield, defrays static. The word Hertz without the ‘t’ is German for heart. The last lines in the stanzas are lyrics from the song Transmission by Joy Division.