Artist collective

Formed as part of AHRC Garden of Forking Paths research project at the University of Leeds

In January 2021 I formed Listening With. The collective was formed on the basis that in order to survive the present and evolving climate and ecological crises, we need to develop new strategies for existence that celebrate human entanglement with more-than-human others rather than perpetuate those which separate us from them.

We must – to use the language of Bruno Latour –  depart from the realm of ideas, return to earth and become ‘Terrestrial’; this an act that requires ‘attaching oneself to the soil on the one hand, [and] becoming attached to the world on the other’.

We ask: what potentialities might sound and listening offer to return from the realm of these ideas and form vibrant practices that might offer strategies for survival in the Chthulucene?

How might practices of sounding and listening offer practical possibilities for making kin and celebrating human-nonhuman entanglement?

Engaging with processes of thinking through doing, Listening With assembles weekly within the framework of a Deep Listening Study Circle to test existing practices and develop new sounding practices. The pedagogical approach of Deep Listening is non-hierarchical, inclusive and centered around recursive processes of collective listening and reflection. It places an emphasis on discussion and reflection on practices through journaling and recording. Working through an online platform allows us to be connected yet apart: free to engage with our independent sounding environments.

The collective is Walker Tufts (US), Cláudia Martinho (PT), Martyna Poznanska (PO/GER), Nik Forrest (CA), and Jacob Eriksen (DK/GER).