Soundcamp digs into the idea of “noise” as a form of solidarity

The artist cooperative explores ideas of shared listening and communality through DIY broadcasts of environmental sound – including field recordings from protests and demonstrations.

This feature was produced in collaboration with Radio alHara as part of their Crack Magazine Issue 168 takeover.

South London-based Soundcamp is an artist cooperative made up of nine creatives. Working in unison, they function as a kind of mycorrhizal network, transmitting a map of discreet streaming initiatives, from projects focusing on public sound to running longform radio broadcasts. The outcome? A DIY sonosphere (or radio space) that stands in as a mechanism for shared listening. Their residency with Radio alHara began on 15 July 2021 with ) listening room ( – a one-hour live transmission from a field transmitter.

Mort Drew (they/them) and Dawn Scarfe are both co-directors of Soundcamp. Drew, a sound engineer, joined the project in 2020 after being tutored by Scarfe at the University of the Arts London. “I’m interested in the radio space as a conduit for anti-capitalist and anti-colonial solidarity, and in how we can use live sounds specifically translated,” Drew tells me over Zoom. Scarfe, a longstanding member, joined “accidentally” after spending a night, with minimal equipment, running solo streaming projects from forests in England. “Initially, I was using a very small computer, then just my phone to send a signal from where I was, because I was quite terrified – actually sleeping out in the dark. I was asking people to sort of keep vigil over my situation,” she explains. From there, she experienced the significance of the remote listener and how a community connection could be built.

Soon enough, Scarfe became a contributor to Soundcamp, resonating with its creative and independent ethos. Drew, too, came onboard, creatively aligning with the message Soundcamp was trying to echo. Often described as “experimental ecological radio”, Soundcamp digs into the idea of “noise” – a space absent from speech – exploring what it means to interact with natural sounds and open environments. In 2023, Soundcamp collaborated with the University of Sussex and Knepp Estate to launch Wilding Radio, the first-ever radio platform dedicated to the sounds of rewilding nature. Sound can be personal, too. Drew recalls creating a “streambox”, a field transmitter designed by Soundcamp, which they deposited in their garden to connect with their parents’ home. “A streambox relays environmental sounds in real time to a live online soundmap, operated by Locus Sonus at ESAAIX, Aix-Marseille. It sends a high-quality stereo signal to a public server, where anyone with an internet connection can listen to it,” Drew explains. “It’s a way of translating things that you cannot put into words.”

The aims of Soundcamp are fascinatingly simple. As Scarfe puts it, “it’s to take away preconceptions of what an environment might be and instead be forced to reimagine what’s around you.” Having worked with Soundcamp for over a decade, Scarfe’s interest in sound is in its multiplicity. “Everybody brings something to that interpretation [of sound], and they might make an association with that sound you might not have thought of.” 

Drew’s connection with sound is emboldened by the endless possibilities. “It is such an impactful medium and a very useful tool. When we did Radio With Palestine, people were able to transmit live from a protest; they could either take their boxes and not have to worry about their phones, or they could stream from their phones,” they explain. 

Soundcamp’s debut Radio With Palestine broadcast was transmitted on 21 October 2023. An experiment in activist radio, it features live audio streams from actions, demonstrations and protests, recorded by attendees and transmitted using free streaming apps or DIY audio transmitters. These are then mixed by Soundcamp and relayed over a network of online and FM radio stations across borders – including the UK, US and beyond. There have been 30 editions so far, with transmissions from London, Berlin, Glasgow, Dublin, Barcelona, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Gaza and Bethlehem. Drew recalls three memorable live transmissions: from al-Aqsa Hospital and Deir al Balah in late 2024, and from Gaza by Ghada Al Kurd on 7 January 2025.

When it comes to encapsulating the Soundcamp project, Scarfe keeps things fittingly open-ended. “The closest we get to an ethos is flat listening – trying not to bring any preconceptions to what you’re listening to and learning from what is coming in a very open way,” she says. “In the short term, we just want to get better at making the servers more sustainable. When a lot of people want to be involved in a project, it puts a lot of strain on these old networks we’ve been using. We want to get better at making it more accessible for people; you need a certain openness to dabbling with tech!”