Principle Of Sound
Resistor: Gambletron | Oliver Rabba | Johnny Forever Nawracaj
FIMAV 2026 curated by Eric Dorion, May 2026
vintage Boyer speakers, multi-channel FM radio transmission, radios, etc
Two arrays of vintage 1970s column speakers were taken years ago from a Zionist summer camp that marked Gambletron’s upbringing. This piece reckons with formative experiences of nationalist, colonial indoctrination.
Firmly aligned with Palestinian freedom, the artists subvert the speakers’ original use, their work inviting audience interaction with a poetically liberatory multi-channel pirate radio transmission
Each radio channel contains experimental sound made with synths, field recordings from protests, samples from scholars, activists, and personal conversations all mixed in Gambletron’s noise-based style. The six suspended speakers were given to audiophile/ speaker- maker Oliver to be modified to "sound better" and be "more dynamic" eventually fitted with an FM radio receivers that pick up one of six pirate radio stations broadcast from transmitters controlled at the console.
Audience members choose a sound to be broadcast through each speaker by flipping a sturdy brass. Toggling the switches, audience members are able to choose from 18 (chai/ life) sounds to play on the six speakers- creating their own unique soundscape experience building compositions that move through solemnity, anger, and hope.
Quieter moments of reflection intermingle with experimental noise and resounding protest calls for freedom. The speakers house the voices of scholars and activists offering information. They play back songs and chants from massive marches. They pulsate with percussion falling in and out of step with rhythmic waves of synthesized sound. Ranging from aggressive noise to pure silence visitors may also select a low key rumble, some abstract static, or moments of ambient sound.
Each visitor creates a unique experience of the work, engaging with the subject matter from a multitude of possible entry ways.
We are Resistor- a collective, uniting in liminal space between anger and celebration between Tkaronto (Toronto) and Tiotià:ke (Montréal), Palestine, Poland and Turtle Island – ideating in our communal diaspora, inventing our history, perpetually building and rebuilding. Oliver is a specialist in building speakers, an acoustic engineer, and an audiophile. Gambletron is a radio obsessed sound artist and musician. Johnny is a digital artist, visual/ concept-daddy. (but let’s not get caught up in titles) We make media artworks. In 2025 we created our first piece Screaming At Walls for the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival- FIMAV hosted our second piece together.
Free Palestine.