“The subliminal depths of radio are charged with the resonating echoes of tribal horns and antique drums. This is inherent in the very nature of this medium, with its power to turn the psyche and society into a single echo chamber.” —Marshall McLuhan.

Radio Galena is a mineral sonic sculpture. It comprises a stone wrapped in wire, which is not connected to the electrical grid. It uses neither batteries nor solar panels, and yet, it can function as a radio in certain parts of the atmosphere, entering into reverberation and receiving radio waves. It acts like a traditional crystal receptor, one of the first radio receptors ever invented. This “talking stone” focuses our attention on early and neglected forms of sound technology and tunes us into ecological frequencies. In the recent past, crystal radios were used as clandestine receivers in times of war, when regular radios were confiscated from civilians. Radio Galena can receive signals from the Mapuche radio station, which is used by a group of indigenous inhabitants in southern Argentina who advocate for their legal claim to land autonomy. 

The concept of this stone reflects the multiplicity of our existence on Earth, and its signals can sometimes sound like a murmured warning against its undermining temporariness. One can imagine that geological strata are forming the book of Earth’s history. Each stone then becomes one sentence telling the history of its deep time. This radio stone questions us: How could the Earth reverberate differently if we attuned to “geological broadcasting” in a post–fossil fuel regime?