Tales of the Triumphant (grandma Silvia) is a reactive, radio-networked sound installation. It begins with “Taíno,” the name of one of Cuba’s Indigenous cultures, and examines how this name remains visible in technical objects and national narratives while the living continuity of Taíno descendants remains politically unresolved. The work reverses signal transmission into an act of critical reception: the audience must approach, orient, and tune the installation in order to listen.

The project critiques the Cuban state’s regime of national visibility and its appropriation of Indigenous identity for historical rewriting and the branding of imported socialist technologies. This process continues through the symbolic incorporation of the island’s first inhabitants and their descendants into an official narrative of national identity, despite their continuing presence, limited recognition, and lack of agency within that narrative.

The installation hybridizes simulated technological objects and functions, medium-wave radio transmission, DIY construction, and audience participation. It reverses the relations between presence and naming, as well as between broadcasting and reception. Each element operates not only as a technical and symbolic simulation but also as a functional component within the radio network, recalling Soviet radio receivers that were renamed after Indigenous names.

The work therefore concerns more than Indigenous memory in Cuba. It questions how such memory persists through naming, factual presence, technical objects linked to national history, and mediated visibility. Its central question is how “Taíno” can remain present in Cuban national language while continuing to be politically unresolved. The postcolonial narrative of extinction transformed the name into a form of cultural heritage available for subsequent narratives of power and identity.

The work attempts to reverse this availability. “Taíno” no longer functions simply as a national emblem displayed through a face-lit channel-letter sign or as an infrastructural label. Instead, it becomes a receiver activated by approaching an arrow that appears to have been shot through the wall separating it from the wooden structure.

The installation consists of a simulated illuminated channel-letter sign spelling “Taíno”; a wooden structure based on an AT-29 guyed radio tower; and a replica of a Taíno arrow passing through a wall. Its coiled ferrite tip acts as the transmitting antenna of a local radio system carrying a self-referential narrative.

The work is organized through an inversion of objects, functions, and hierarchies. The illuminated sign operates as a radio receiver and is attached to the wooden tower, which houses the speakers and other circuit components. To tune into the signal, the audience must move and reposition the receiving structure near the ferrite tip protruding from the wall. Using the ferrite antenna as a transmitter restricts the electromagnetic field and drastically reduces its range, making physical proximity necessary for reception.

The installation demands more than observation. The spectator must physically engage with the receiving structure, search for the signal, and remain close to the arrow in order to hear the transmission.

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The thesis text is available upon request.

Credits:

– Supervisors: Prof. Ralf Baecker, Dr. Petra Klusmeyer
– Photos: Jimi Liu (photo no. 1); Nicolás Sánchez Noa (all other photos)