Gregory Whitehead began experimenting with audiotape while an undergraduate at
Haverford College, using two cassette recorders to improvise, record, and mix voices with instruments, including his own saxophones. He later earned an MA in Media Studies at the
New School for Social Research, which at that time placed a strong emphasis on creative radio. Whitehead's thesis examined
Walter Ong’s ideas on electronic orality and phenomenological presence as expressed through the voice. During this period, he also developed an interest in the films and philosophies of
Alexander Kluge and
Chris Marker, focusing on the relationship between documentary evidence and imaginative counterpoint. At the same time, he created experimental voice performances and text-sound poetry in dialogue with
Charles Amirkhanian and other artists. In 1987, Whitehead collaborated with
Helen Thorington and Regine Beyer on the creation of a three-day
Festival for a New Radio broadcast on
WKCR FM in New York City. The three also contributed to the founding of
New American Radio, a nationally distributed series presenting radio works across a wide range of genres. During the 1990s, Whitehead initiated two research projects: the Laboratory for Innovation and Acoustic Research (LIAR) and the International Institute for Screamscape Studies, which included a large scream archive and the
Prix Italia–awarded radio broadcast,
Pressures of the Unspeakable. He also worked on semi-improvisatory collaborations with
Christof Migone (
The Thing About Bugs) and Richard Busch (
Nothing But Fog). In the same period he also contributed to
All Things Considered and
This American Life. At the turn of the 2000s, Whitehead serves as an advisor for
WGXC, a local station with a mission to explore experimental radio. Beginning in 1998, he produced programs for
BBC Radio 4, exploring imaginative and experimental audio forms. Up to 2012, he continued to produce radio plays and documentaries for
BBC Radio 3 and
4. Gregory Whitehead continues to produce a diverse body of
radio art and experimental text-sound works, working independently for a variety of stations and initiatives internationally. His media repertoire spans both analog and digital formats, including cassette tapes, CDs, radio broadcasts, and music festivals. Whitehead's work has been included in exhibitions at the
Wellcome Collection, the
Whitney Museum,
Documenta,
Mass MOCA, and other institutions. His radio works have also been featured at conferences and festivals, including Radiophrenia,
Third Coast International Audio Festival, Radio Revolten. He maintains an ongoing collaboration with Wave Farm, where he frequently appears on air in interviews and discussions and serves as a mentor in their artist residency program.
Film and theater In the mid-1980s, Whitehead collaborated with choreographer Karen Bamonte and percussionist Toshi Makihara on the development of
Text/Flesh performances, in which texts, rhythms, and bodies intersected, producing narratives such as
The Confusion of Tongues and
The Assassination. He later worked with
Zaven Paré, Mark Sussman, and Allen S. Weiss on
Theater of the Ears, based on a text by Valère Novarina, which was performed at
La MaMa in
New York City. In 2004, he collaborated again with Sussman and Weiss on
Danse Macabre, a work featuring the dolls and voice of Michel Nedjar. Since 2021, Gregory Whitehead has collaborated with
Finnish filmmaker Arttu Nieminen, creating experimental short films. In 2021, they created
Awareness, an experimental short film combining Whitehead's mantra-like poetry with abstract symmetry and rapid cutting to reflect on the human mind, cultural evolution, and the state of the world. In 2023, they collaborated again on
Lift Up Your Voices. In this film, a voice from the perspective of an all-embracing algorithm addresses humanity in its final moments, punctuated by a song drawn from
Emily Dickinson’s poem. The work features collage-like montage, hypnotic drone sequences, and the interplay between Whitehead’s text and Nieminen’s visual imagery. == Radio philosophy ==