On Air - On Site : 48 Hours of Radio Art

Airing on May 24th 13:00 CEST
I Just Broadcast
Genre: Sound Art
Duration: 30 min
I Just Called is a curated series of voice recordings of people pretending to leave a voice message for a loved one. The recordings were collected in Northern Ireland and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Mostly in English, the set includes contributions in Irish, Arabic, French, German, Mandarin, and Korean.

Each anonymous caller’s words are unscripted and devoid of context–in effect, a short, improvised performance–but the result is very affecting for the listener. The original piece relayed the content via eight telephone handsets suspended from a ceiling panel. The piece explores the dynamic between intimacy and voyeurism and the universality of human connection, irrespective of ethnicity or religion. We hear people saying heartfelt and private things to those they love. By agreeing to be recorded for the work, they have given us permission to listen, but still, there is a sense that we might be intruding – and that’s both delicious and slightly uncomfortable!

The content moved online during the Covid pandemic to ijustcalled.online. In 2045/5 I Just Called toured public libraries in Belfast and Co. Antrim, with artist talks and content collection. The work is now back in the physical realm, with its most recent exhibition during February 2026 at Mossley Mill Museum Gallery in Newtownabbey featuring four telephone tables with modified vintage telephone handsets, each relaying a subset of the collected voices. Full consent was given for all the recordings.

This submitted iteration of the work, entitled I Just Broadcast is a 30-minute curated selection of the message set.

Featuring:

Colin James Woods

Colin James Woods is an Irish-born freelance artist and sonic practitioner based in Belfast (N. Ireland). Colin was born in Belfast and moved to Aotearoa/New Zealand in 2002. He was previously guitarist with Irish punk band Music For the Deaf, and a participant in UK/Ireland-based Allotropes experimental collective. After spending 30 years working as a scientist in pathology laboratories, Colin went back to study, gaining a Diploma in Contemporary Music (from Unitec, Auckland), a BMus (Hons) in Composition from the University of Auckland, and a master’s degree in creative technology from AUT (Auckland).

His interests span experimental music (both composed and improvised), site-specific installations, video, songwriting, performance, and composition for conventional solo instruments and ensembles

He returned to Belfast in 2023 and is currently working on his PhD project at Ulster University, where his research uses his practice to examine the notion of the artist as co-creator and how this erodes boundaries, transforms roles, and resists commodification.

Colin is a SOUNZ-represented composer and a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science.

colinjameswoods.com

22-24 May 2026 - 48hours of Radio Art