As artists and scholars, we are well trained in perceiving the world visually. But what do we know about the ways in which listening shapes research? What role does hearing play in the field, in the museum and in the studio? Where does hearing end and listening start? What somatic part is involved in the act of listening? How can what is heard be shared and translated? Is it possible to hear what remains invisible? Is there always hearing where sound is? What escapes the ear?
For some time now, the topic of listening and sound has been at-tracting quite a lot of attention in the art world as well as in the hu-manities and social sciences. Rather than simply celebrating this re-cently proclaimed “auditory turn,” the Poly Listening Club intends to reflect both critically and sensually on listening as a multifaceted re-search mode. To each event one or more guest(s) will bring a sound piece that turns listening itself into a subject, inviting listeners to re-flect on how social, political, and environmental aspects of the sonic present can be heard. The collective listening sessions will be ac-companied by responses of invited echoers.
The Poly Listening Club is a space for mindful encounters, for re-sponding and amplifying, for experimenting with different modes of hearing, discussing and doubting, a place where sound might reso-nate with the audience in multiple ways, challenging the binarism of active and passive, sender and receiver, opening up possibilities for speculation, polyphony, maybe. (Barbara Preisig)