As part of my PhD research, I've been speaking to socially engaged, community and participatory artists to understand how they listen within their practice.
Socially-engaged art projects are rarely initiated by the communities they seek to serve. Though arts organisation’s efforts (consultation, co-production and partnership models) go some way to address this, inequality often remains ingrained in projects from their inception. My research asks, how can social art challenge uneven power-relations, even when set within frameworks serving neoliberal agendas?
I'm interested in how 'listening' features within this practice, and how it might be applied as a useful and usable model for dissecting power dynamics. What gets in the way of listening, and what might the consequences of listening be?
This monthly podcast series is hosted by Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse - a podcast about cultural democracy and community art.
Episode 1: Listening and Not Knowing
Albert Potrony introduces his participatory arts practice, describing a recent project with young fathers in Gateshead and former members of an anti-sexist men’s group. We talk about collaborative practice in detail, and the role of listening within this.
References:
Albert Potrony
Elastic Communal Tours at Tate
Episode 2: Listening from Before there is a Project
Socially-engaged filmmaker Edwin Mingard talks about the need to turn off ‘broadcast mode’. Edwin brings diverse groups of people together to explore social change through moving image. He shares his learning from a long term project with young people in Stoke who were either homeless or recently experienced it, collaborating on a beautiful film called ‘An Intermission’ (2020).
References:
Episode 3: Listening through the Body
Sam Metz talks about listening beyond the aural, sharing examples from their work with non-verbal participants. Sam looks for ways of working that don't privilege vision or verbal interactions, and describes a listening practice that extends through the body. They describe the importance of attunement to micro-cues to pick up on participants’ comfort levels, and consider how relationships affect our ability to act as a ‘receiver’. Sam shares methods from their practice, such as encouraging repetitive touch as a means of connecting with embodied feedback.
References:
Interview for Nottingham Contemporary
Episode 4: Lady Kitt - Building Listening into Everything
In this fourth episode of Ways of Listening, titled Building Listening into Everything, disabled artist and drag king Lady Kitt talks to our host Hannah Kemp-Welch about their practice of ‘mess making as social glue’. Kitt describes a ‘collaborative sandwich’ activity that helps to build relationships at the start of a community project, and ways they make space for listening throughout this work.
References:
Episode 4: Jody Wood - Hearing what isn't being said
Artist Jody Wood talks about listening as a practice of care - where to care is not to cure. Jody advocates for participatory ‘opt in’ structures rather than co-creation, questioning the expectations placed on artists to solve social issues. Using examples from projects taking place with social workers and in homelessness shelters, Jody talks through the need to resist conflicting agendas, and keep focus on the power of a relational practice. We also discuss the need to listen to yourself, listening as a spiritual practice of attunement.
References: