secret [mis]communication system

Description

World premiere

The film is based on the drawings and graphic illustrations taken from the patent “Secret Communication System”, registered as US2292387.

When work on radio-controlled torpedoes began in the early 1940s, it became clear that an enemy would have little trouble intercepting the frequency of a control signal. In 1942, to fix that problem, the film actress Hedy Lamarr and the composer George Antheil proposed changing the carrier frequency of transmitter and receiver by means of a perforated paper tape, of the kind used in a player piano. Lamarr and Antheil’s invention folded musical logic into the mechanics of war, fulfilling the modernist utopia’s hope that art and technological progress might pass into one another.

About the director:

Nikita Spiridonov

Artist, composer, curator, and founder of the u/n multitude collective. In the context of the artistic practice of u/n multitude, he explored the political dimension of sound, creating performances and political scores. As a video artist, Spiridonov continues to take historical events as a starting point and investigates the difficulties of memory work along with the ways of remembering. Spiridonov is a participant of numerous exhibitions, including: Orchestras (Solyanka Gallery, Moscow, 2016), Notes for Tomorrow (diverse cities, 2021-2025), Limits of visibility (CCA Winzavod, Moscow, 2025). He participated in the In Silico competition of Message to Man IFF with Volga Song, Dots, Lines and Zigzag, Meat Grinder 2 and secret [mis]communication system 2 (Jury diploma).