大象传媒

Matthew Sweet attempts to live in the moment and evade posterity as he pieces together an edition of Archive on 4 without the use of any archive whatsoever - and in a valiant attempt at auto-destructive radio, tries to remove all trace of this very programme from the world.

Archives are everywhere. They're in every business, every high street, every attic and every pocket: museums consecrated to all kinds of ephemera, collections of writerly marginalia awaiting the attention of curious researchers - and self-storage warehouses are flourishing, as people pay to hold onto those things they can evidently live without.

And as we stand there at the concert filming the action over the heads of all the other people filming the action, or Live Tweet the latest drama or extend our selfie stick to squeeze ourselves in next to the Mona Lisa, aren't we missing something fundamental? Isn't this ever-present urge to archive (as if we're afraid of impermanence, confused about what's public and what's private) affecting our ability to experience the here and now?

Usually in one of these programmes it isn't long before we hear a grainy old bit of tape or the long-preserved voice of some venerable figure - the ancestor worship of the sound archive. But not this time.

Like an excursion in retro radio, this programme has to be experienced in real time. It won't be available on iPlayer or the programme webpage or as a podcast. If you want to hear it you'll have to tune in as it is broadcast. After that... it will be no more.

Featuring: William Basinski, Mike Figgis, Christopher Frayling, Aleks Krotoski, Hanif Kureishi, Andy Martin, Joanna Norledge, Caroline Shenton and Carolyn Steedman.

With music recorded for the programme by Rhodri Davies.

Producer: Martin Williams.