Listening - Listening was a curated touring exhibition that sought to take ‘listening’ as both subject matter and the method by which it is encountered and explored.
- Submitting institution
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The University of Leeds
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- UOA32-4432
- Type
- M - Exhibition
- Venue(s)
- Baltic39, Newcastle; The Bluecoat, Liverpool; Site Gallery and Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery, Sheffield; Art Exchange and Firstsite, Colchester.
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first exhibition
- -
- Year of first exhibition
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Listening was a self-curated touring exhibition that sought to take ‘listening’ as both subject matter and the method by which it is encountered and explored (A). Many exhibitions since the early 2000s have looked to redress the balance between the visual and the sonic, but often fall into the trap of either ghettoising works within discreet architecture and technology, or deal solely with the ‘problems’ of sound, creating a singular, homogeneous and immersive mix.
Listening interrogated the idea of listening rather than merely its aural objects asking: What is at stake when we consider visitors as an ‘audience’?
As curator, I collaborated with the exhibiting artists who produced new works or allowed me to drastically reconfigure their works; touch and movement becoming central in putting the whole sensorium into play. Drawn from an array of disciplines, the exhibition formed ‘an inclusive new canon around the category of acoustic attention’ (F).
Whether picking up a telephone or ducking into an anechoic chamber, Listening’s visitors were encouraged to actively engage, carving out their own journeys through the works and sounds on display. This choreographic navigation (as much choral, as kinetic) developed throughout the tour and allowed individual institutions to expand and develop new relationships with their audiences. This audience engagement was underpinned by artist and curator talks and symposia that continued to question and disseminate the research aims and objectives throughout and beyond the exhibition period (H-I).
Building on my expertise as an audio-visual artist, the show was radical in its use of technologies, works orchestrated so that visitors were guided through and individual works allowed to ‘speak’ in turn, setting a ‘benchmark for how such exhibitions should be framed and presented’ (G). Artists such as Laure Provoust have continued to use the bespoke systems I developed in high-profile exhibitions (J).
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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