Facilitating an inquiry into the politics of sound, the workshop features a series of collective listening sessions curated by artist Khaled Kaddal. Participants will meditate on each other’s listening practices, journey into the most intimate and personal of sounds and explore  various listening perspectives in relation to three types of aural realms:

1) Urban soundscape: While we all live in the same city, we relate to the spaces we inhabit in different ways. In this part of the workshop, each participant will explore a soundscape of choice, introducing their perception on urbanism and non-urban fields and sharing how they relate to such sound.

2) Inner sound: When we read a text we read it with our inner voice, which is a very personal and intimate sound. This also includes the sound of thoughts and dreams.

3) Sonic objects: Using contact mics, we can capture sounds transmitted within materials. Participants will share their personal sensorial-reflections on inaudible sounds emitted by their objects of preference.

The listening sessions will be complemented with group-readings on each category. Participants will read and discuss essays and texts on how the practice of listening enhances the human sensorial awareness that is otherwise desensitised by the dominance of materialism.

Applications for this workshop are now closed.

This workshop is part of the first phase of our 2019 program At The Lab, bringing together artists and cultural practitioners exploring sound, listening and sonic practices in relation to forms of collective agency, alternative socialities and the emergence of milieus.