NEXT Workshop: Wouter Jaspers ✴ Threshold Receiver

📡🌀 𝑊𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐽𝑎𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠 — 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 🌀📡
What can we hear beyond the limits of human hearing? 👁️📻
City streets are filled with invisible signals. Power lines, transformers, trolley wires, phone chargers and security sensors in shops all emit electromagnetic waves into their surroundings. In the very low frequency (VLF) range, these are joined by natural radio phenomena, such as the crackling of lightning from storms dozens of kilometres away. Vibrations also travel through our environment, making railings, shop windows and bridges resonate.
During the Threshold Receiver workshop, sound artist Wouter Jaspers will introduce us to this hidden world of radio waves and vibrations, exploring how they can be used to create music. Together, we will build our own THRESHOLD RECEIVER – a handheld DIY device that allows us to listen to the hidden sonic layers of our surroundings.
𖤐 WHAT WILL WE DO? 𖤐
Over approximately four hours, we will explore how the receiver works and learn how to build it. We will then assemble and solder our own devices. To wrap up the workshop, we will head out into the streets of Bratislava to test what kinds of signals our receivers can pick up.
The THRESHOLD RECEIVER combines three listening methods: an inductive receiver that converts electromagnetic fields into sound; a VLF receiver that picks up natural radio phenomena; and an input for a contact microphone, allowing us to capture vibrations from different surfaces and materials. Everything is connected to a headphone output, so you can listen and explore in real time.
𖤐 WHAT TO BRING? 𖤐
Please bring your own headphones with a 3.5 mm stereo (mini-jack) connector. If you have a soldering iron suitable for small electronics, bring that along too. A few will be available at the venue, but any additional ones will come in handy. Part of the workshop will take place outdoors, so make sure to dress warmly.
𖤐 WHO IS THIS WORKSHOP FOR? 𖤐
The workshop is primarily intended for people with some previous experience in soldering DIY electronics, as building the receiver involves a fair amount of precise soldering. However, expert knowledge is not required – if you have completed one or two similar projects, you should be able to manage. All you need is patience and curiosity; we'll help you with the rest.
The workshop will be held in English.
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🦇 WHEN & WHERE 🦇
📅 Friday, 27 November 2026 · 10:00 CET
📍 A4 – Space for Contemporary Culture
✴️ Limited capacity: 10 participants. Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdigPAPr7-pZW-gQZoqCXMx-L6HEweRCqQXn0eW5RqrNHHSrQ/viewform
🪙 Admission: €25 (payable at the venue)
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📻 WOUTER JASPERS 📻
Wouter Jaspers is a sound artist, composer and performer whose work brings together the design of electroacoustic instruments, social experience and an exploration of the act of listening.
He works with field recordings, radio signals, interference, analogue noise, handmade electronics and microphones. His performances and installations reveal hidden sonic infrastructures and transmission processes. For Jaspers, sound is not a self-contained musical language, but a way of telling stories, mapping landscapes and capturing traces of public life.
His collaborators include Bendik Giske, Theo Nabicht, Horacio Franco and Ensemble KNM Berlin. Together with Frans de Waard, he is part of the group Ezdanitoff, and with Berlin-based artist Hainbach, he forms the duo Odd Narrative. He is also a co-founder of Berlin-based KOMA Elektronik, whose Field Kit series has become an important tool for electroacoustic experimentation. He also runs the Sonic Artefacts label, focusing on self-built detectors and microphones.
𖤐 The workshop is co-organised by A4 Sound Lab as part of the project Sound Experiments: Innovative Approaches to Informal Learning, funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme.