Expanded & Quantum Listening Vs. Deep Shit Listening

Alan Courtis & Mattin

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This workshop will introduce exercises inspired by the work of composer Pauline Oliveros, developed in two distinct yet complementary directions by Alan Courtis and Mattin. Both artists have collaborated for over 20 years, though this will be their first time working together in this workshop format.

Part 1: Expanded & Quantum Listening with Alan Courtis

This participatory workshop is based on the Deep Listening techniques developed by acclaimed American composer Pauline Oliveros and on her propositions regarding Quantum Listening. However it is also based on Courtis’ own approach and experience to these subjects as a friend and collaborator of Oliveros, as well as in his role as a translator of several of her texts into Spanish. Alan will lead the group through a set of activities oriented to explore the possibilities of listening and to expand perceptual potentialities. The session will also explore differences between what it means to hear vs to listen, different listening levels, their potential links to quantum realities, and their various connections to the spatiotemporal continuum.

Part 2: Deep Shit Listening by Mattin

Deep Shit Listening proposes to socialise the shit we normally have to swallow individually. Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening explores the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the conscious act of listening, cultivating greater awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal. However, this environment is increasingly toxic – it’s getting hotter and smells worse every day, like fascism. 

We live in the ass of history. How can we listen to this specific moment in time? Genocide, AI, climate change, mental health crises, structural racism, and neurodivergence are among some of the problems we can no longer confront from the standpoint of the liberal subject as we understand it today. Deep Shit Listening explores the social noise that arises between an increasingly competitive and individualistic reality and our inability to deal with it as individuals. 

Through a series of exercises, the group is invited to share the internal and external noise we usually try to silence in our everyday lives, helping each other to create tools for developing a structural and collective form of listening. 

The workshop will end with reflections on the results of the listening exercises, in combination with Alan and Mattin.

Requirements

This workshop is open to all, no prior knowledge is required.

Event Access

Note: this event is not included in festival passes. Please consult our Accessibility section for information on volume / lighting, mobility, age restrictions and other access information.

This workshop is presented with tekhnē, a network initiative that is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.