Cole G has been producing Human Interviews for several years now. A unique project and program, Human Interviews combines interviews with individuals about deep topics together with musical selections inspired by the interview. Cole describes the history and purpose of the project:
The project started in 2014 when I began to record myself asking existential questions of people I know or people I meet. The interviewees are of different age, place, race, background, religion, belief, and experience – all answering the same existential questions about self, time, love, death, perception, and other things that bring wonder to me. Mostly unanswerable things. Originally, all interviewees remained anonymous to stand in solidarity with early participants who could not be named to protect their safety. With permission, I shared the Interviews in my workshops, art installations, and as sound scores in dance rehearsals and performances. In 2020 I became a resident host on Verge.FM and the show took its current form- where I curate excerpts of these dialogues to feature multiple people in a single episode. Around this time I learned that some folks need to be named and anonymity became an option everyone could take. Interviews are often collected on the fly so the show is very lo-fi and when aired on the radio, include a favorite song or two of the participants or mine. The purpose of the project is not to find answers, but to ask the questions and to share other people’s perspectives since I believe listening to different ideas and imagining new ways of being is important for humanity. Explicit language and views with which you may not agree.
Cole archives the interviews on Spotify, and you can listen to the three that have aired thus far on Radio 614 below. The next program is this Sunday, August 20 at 7 p.m.
