Barry’s 88mc Carrier Wave (FM) consists of radio waves generated by a hand-engineered FM radio transmitter installed in this gallery but hidden from view, as it was first presented in an exhibition organized by Seth Siegelaub in 1969. When amplified through a transistor radio tuned to the specified FM frequency (88mc), the waves produce tones and sounds of varying intensity, depending on the strength of the signal. The project challenged longheld assumptions about what defines a work of art and expanded traditional notions of sculpture, positing that sound, as well as objects, can define space.
Gallery label from 2011.