<nettime> THE LUTHER BLISSETT ENIGMA (RADIO SHOW)

[aliensinroma <aliensinroma@aliensinroma.com>]

The Luther Blissett Enigma

Radio Eye    Sunday 11/03/01  8.30pm 

(Australian Radio  abc ) 
  

 "By exploring every conceivable avenue down which it is possible to
escape the shackles of a conventional identity, Luther Blissett infuses
the world with a fresh vitality." - Luther Blissett (1998)

  Luther Blissett is a black British footballer who was"bought" for a
record fee by the prestigious Italian club AC Milan in the early 1980s. He
subsequently played a disastrous season and became a symbol of heroic
failure in Italy.  Somehow by the 90s Luther Blissett had become a
"multiple name" used by media-savvy, culture-jamming Italian activists.
Articles, exhibitions, performances, best-selling books, CDs and numerous
hoaxes were attributed to the increasingly ubiquitous Luther, until even
the venerable writer and theorist, Umberto Eco was suspected of being
Luther. Numerous Luther events and appearances led to media scandals,
public outrage and violent confrontations with police.

  Much more than a prank, the Luther Blissett phenomenon proposes radical
new ways to consider identity, originality and collective action in a
world obsessed with individual celebrity and continued a tradition of
multiple names reaching back to the Berlin Dadaists.


"The Luther Blissett Enigma" charts the history of Luther from his humble
beginnings as a footballer to his mutation into an international cultural
virus and his eventual Japanese-style ritual suicide on New Year's Day,
2000. The program includes accounts of Luther's first sighting as a
multiple identity on the Rome underground, his conversations with fellow
multiple-namer Karen Eliot, commentary from Blissett scholars Stewart Home
and Vittore Baroni and original music and text by Luther Blissett.  
Luther Blissett is played by veteran Australian actor, Norman Kaye.

  Sound engineer: Andrei Shabunov 
  Producer: Brent Clough


http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/radioeye/default.htm 

Unfortunately as yet we are not streamed, although some programmes are
avialable on demand with REal Audio. Neither are we picked up by Radio
Australia which is the overseas part of the ABC, so it makes it hard for
listeners anywhere outside Australia.



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