“Remote Hi-fi” is a part of a lineage of works that originated as my thesis project for an MFA at Columbia University in 2000. The project was called “Distaurt” and it was based on the irony of consumerism; that we are enslaved by the need to own objects. We buy a product which fulfils a particular function, and by doing so we incorporate it into our lives in such a way that we are brought to think we can no longer live without it. Our ability to manipulate it at will contributes to the illusion of having shaped our lives according to our needs, and therefore of being in control. My intention was to alter this perception. The project consisted of purchasing consumer goods used daily by millions of people in their immediate environments, ‘modifying’ their function and finally returning them back to the marketplace. In this way, the altered product would re-circulate and would eventually become part of someone's environment, and slowly and subtly take control of his or her life.
Although “Remote Hi-fi” may seem like a common household appliance, it is not exactly that. The radio was bought at an electronics shop in Barcelona and then bugged with a cellular phone and with a microcontroller that understands phone tones (DTMF). Once connected to the AC line, the phone inside the radio will automatically go on and by