Silent Key / Deleted Entities 1925 -1996

Cindy Bernard, Deleted Entities 1925 - 1996, 115 parts (from the series Silent Key), Installation view, Boston Center for the Arts, 2009

Cindy Bernard, Deleted Entities 1925 – 1996, 115 parts (from the series Silent Key), Installation view, Boston Center for the Arts, 2009

Deleted Entities 1925 – 1996 consists of scans of QSL cards from hams operating in political entities that no longer exist such as the USSR, Nazi Germany, Korea and China during Japanese occupation, Japan and Germany during American occupation and Colonial Africa. When sorted by continent and date, the result is a spatial and durational mapping consisting of 115 pieces in an array 6 feet high by 55 feet long. The archive is inevitably incomplete – there isn’t necessarily a card for every continent from every year – these gaps cause the grid to resemble a musical score or perhaps even the rhythm of morse code.

The series Silent Key charts the geopolitical map of the 20th Century as represented through QSL cards – printed traces of individual contacts which track a convoluted global narrative. “Silent Key” is ham lingo for a radio operator who has died. Other parts of the series: Antennas, Portraits and Stations and July 15, 2010, 1pm.

To see all 115 cards, check my instagram feed. I’m posting one card a day starting January 6, 2016.

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Cindy Bernard, RK-1583, April 21, 1931 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) today: Russian Federation (independent 1991)
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Cindy Bernard, DE 2741-R, December 3, 1934 Deutschland today: Federal Republic of Germany (disestablishment 1945), 7 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, MX2B, March 18, 1936 Manchou-kuo today: part of the People's Republic of China (reincorporated 1945) 10 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, FI8AC, May 18, 1938 French Indochina today: Socialist Republic of Vietnam (independent 1954, unified 1976) 12 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, OK1PZ, May 23, 1938 Czechoslovakia today: Czech Republic (independent 1993) 16 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, PK1VY, June 26, 1938 Java, Netherlands East Indies today: part of the Republic of Indonesia (independence finalized 1949) 15 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, D4ADN, September 27, 1946 Berlin District - US Army today: part of the Federal Republic of Germany (US administration dissolved 1949, reunified 1990) 21 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, OQ5BW, February 9, 1947 Congo Belge today: Democratic Republic of the Congo (independent 1960) 27 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, CR6AQ, March 15, 1948 Angola, Portuguese West Africa today: Republic of Angola (independent 1975) 32 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, ZC6UNJ, November 12, 1948 Palestine today: Palestine (partitioned 1947, dissolved 1949, disputed with Israel) 31 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, AC4RF, February 25, 1949 Tibet today: part of the People's Republic of China (invaded 1950, disputed) 34 of 115
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Cindy Bernard, FA8IH, December 3, 1950 Algeria today: People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (independent 1962) 41 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, P1BOY, September 22, 1951 Belize, British Honduras today: Belize (independent 1981) 42 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, DM2ADB, February 23, 1958 Deutsche Demokratische Republik today: Federal Republic of Germany (reunified 1990) 58 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, ZS6IF/8, December 17, 1959 Basutoland today: Kingdom of Lesotho (independent 1966) 60 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, OK2-5485, March 17, 1962 Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (CSSR) today: Czech Republic (independent 1993) 71 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, YO7DL, November 3, 1964 Rumanian People's Republic today: Romania (renamed 1990) 77 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, UA3NU, November 20, 1964 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) today: Russian Federation (independent 1991) 78 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, HZ3TYQ/8Z4, January 13, 1965 Saudi Arabian/Iraqi Neutral Zone today: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Republic of Iraq, (border settled 1991) 80 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, OK3CAU, November 18, 1968 Czechoslovakia today: Slovakia (independent 1993) 90 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, 4S7DA, December 24, 1969 Ceylon today: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (independent 1948, renamed 1972) 92 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, ZE3JJ, April 5, 1970 Rhodesia today: Republic of Zimbabwe (independent 1965, renamed 1980) 100 of 115 parts
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Cindy Bernard, U19AAB, March 5, 1990 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Republic of Uzbekistan (independent 1991) 110 of 115 parts
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UA0KBY, November 23, 1991 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) today: Russian Federation (independent 1991) 113 of 115 parts