ANTHOLOGY FOR LISTENING VOL. I
Anthology for Listening
Vol. I
Prologue
[ ] maybe we can go deeper? [ ] what does it mean to listen… what is going on, in one’s mind, body, when you listen?
It doesn’t matter which senses you use; it is about taken in [ ] it is meeting the world. [ ]
What is a meeting? [ ] the colliding of things, maybe. Not in a violent way, but as an overlap when two things or entities in the world overlap and their worldview for a moment is shared. Or maybe their experience is shared is a better way of putting it. [ ] And now, for instance, we have this meeting. [ ] this is a meeting. [ ].
Foreword
In an attempt to write a listening foreword, I find myself speaking. One word at the time, I type. Writing a foreword without words and projections proves acutely difficult. I still have a long way to go.
Do better than me. For the duration of this anthology, put your words to rest. Let your voice be. Approach the world with an expanded mind. Give attention. And listen.
Head of Communications,
Bureau for Listening
Content
IMITATIONER AF LIV – KIRSTINE FOGH VINDELEV
IMAGINED REALITIES – TIMMY OLIVIA THYGE ROSENDAL
TO LISTEN AS IF ALREADY LISTENING – ANGELICA STATHOPOULOS
SOLSORT – FREDERIKKE KREBS BAHN & ANDREAS BACH JENSEN
NOTES ON A POSSIBLE PERFORMANCE – PROJECT MANAGER AT BUREAU FOR LISTENING
VIRGIN CONCH – MATILDE SØES RASMUSSEN
SSSS* MIT HAD TIL LYDE – AMALIE SEJERSDAHL
I SPIT IN MY PALMS AND RUB THEM TOGETHER – MATHAPELO MOFOKENG, GABY BEYERS & CLAIRE COETZEE
EXPANDED LISTENING – NANA FRANCISCA SCHÖTTLANDER
REFSHALEBLOMSTER – MARK SLATER
CLARA, FANNY & CÉCILE – MORTEN POULSEN
CHOREOGRAPHY OF SOCIALISING LATE IN LIFE – RANDI LINDHOLM HANSEN
WHILE WE SLEEP SHARKS SWIM BETWEEN YOUR EAR AND MINE – ELISABETH MOLIN
SHARP NOTE + LISTENING TO MY FEMININE LINEAGES – YUMNA MARTIN
NOTES ON SPECTERS – TOBIAS KIRSTEIN & CLAUS HAXHOLM
PASSAGER FRA ANIMAL – ALEXANDRA MOLTKE JOHANSEN
BEFORE THE EAR, IN FRONT OF THE SUN. PART OF A GESTURE FOR LISTENING, 2022. – EMILIE TARP ØSTENSGÅRD
EVERYTHING REMAINS – JESPER NORDA
ON FORMGIVING THIS ANTHOLOGY – BARBORA KOVÁČOVA
Contributors
Alexandra Moltke Johansen. 1988. She/her. Denmark.
Passager fra Animal (2022)
To listen is hard, it is to really care.
—
Amalie Sejersdahl. 1990. She/her. Denmark.
SSSS* Mit had til lyde (2022)
To listen is an intimate gesture. To listen is something you can do with your heart. To listen is complex.
—
Andreas Bach Jensen. 1993. He/him. Denmark.
Solsort (2021)
To listen is to be empathic and present to your creative partner. To say “yes” to the other person’s ideas and let go of your ego while creating things together <3
—
Angelica Stathopoulos. 1987. They/them. Denmark.
To Listen As If Already Listening (2022)
To listen is suspension.
—
Claire Coetzee. 1993. She/her. South Africa.
I spit in my palms and rub them together (2022)
To listen is to swirl the taste of community, soil and the solar system on your tongue.
—
Claus Haxholm. 19??. He/him/ Denmark.
Notes on Specters (2022)
To listen is a secret.
—
Elisabeth Molin. 1111. She/her. Nefi.
While we sleep sharks swim between your ear and mine (2022)
To listen is the sounds of dust falling, the sound of blood streaming through my veins.
—
Emilie Tarp Østengård. 1993. She/her. Denmark.
Photo documentation of the work Before the Ear, in Front of the Sun. Part of the project A Gesture for Listening (2022)
To listen is to question this statement.
—
Frederikke Krebs Bahn. 1995. She/her. Denmark.
Solsort (2021)
To listen is to be empathic and present to your creative partner. To say “yes” to the other person’s ideas and let go of your ego while creating things together <3
—
Gaby Beyers. 1976. She/her. South Africa.
I spit in my palms and rub them together (2022)
To listen is to bend time, darn holes and offer hope …the way blue settles into all the empty spaces.
—
Jesper Norda. 1972. He/him. Sweden.
Everything Remains (2021)
- 50 Years In A Space of 9 Days (text version) (2001)
- Stripped / Piano Clock (text version) (2005)
- The Pumps (text version) (2005)
- Horizon Release (text version) (2009)
To listen is to prepare the rest of your body: for defense, for attack, for rest, for sleep and for all other activities.
—
Kirstine Fogh Vindelev. 1985. She/her. Denmark.
Imitationer af liv (2022)
To listen is to connect.
—
Mark Slater. 1978. He/him. United Kingdom.
Refshaleblomster (2022)
To listen is to project a possible future. To listen is to attend to now and wonder what listening could be, later. To listen is to extract and propose possibilities for someone else’s listening, who may then also project a possible future.
—
Mathapelo Mofokeng. 1989. She/her. South Africa.
I spit in my palms and rub them together (2022)
To listen is to hear with five ears.
—
Matilde Søes Rasmussen. 1990. She/her. Denmark
Virgin conch (2021)
To listen is hard when you don’t hear well.
—
Morten Poulsen. 1990. He/they. Denmark.
Clara, Fanny & Cécile (2021)
To listen is an intangible, intersubjective and transformative activity; it’s about attunement and entanglements, about coming together and being together; the auditory is a space we share, and carries with it a responsibility for understandings of subjectivities, privileges and limitations. In such spaces, listening is an economy of attention-giving-and-taking which prompts us to consider what and who is not being heard and what re-hearing might do to our self-understandings.
—
Nana Francisca Schottländer. 1977. She/they. Denmark.
Expanded Listening (2022)
To listen is to make myself available.
—
Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard. 1979. He/him. Denmark.
It does (not) make (non)sence/sense; listening to entangled voices, softenings and vola (1 & 2) (2022)
To listen is for me an effort of instability. An often difficult and sometimes beautiful act of entanglement.
—
Possible project manager at Bureau for Listening. Unknown. They/them. Unknown.
Notes on a Possible Performance, 2022
To listen is to a way of being which presence creates beautiful traces.
—
Randi Lindholm Hansen. 1990. She/her. Denmark.
Choreography of Socialising Late in Life (2022)
To listen is my default setting.
—
Timmy Olivia Thyge Rosendal. 1996. She/they. Denmark.
MAGINED REALITIES (2022)
To listen is to be curious, explore and aware of our surroundings, spaces and emotional states – In the present, the past and in imaginary realities.
—
Tobias Kirstein. 1972. He/him/ Denmark.
Notes on Specters (2022)
To listen is a secret.
—
Yumna Martin. 1984. She/they. South Africa.
Sharp Note (2022)
Listening to my Feminine Lineages (2021)
To listen is to pause as the train siren rings, to stand on the balcony and watch the light of your neighbour as their infant cries, to be taken by the incessant song of cicadas to summer’s heat.
—
Bureau for Listening is an interdisciplinary collective working to promote listening as a critical, empathetic and open-ended practice.
—
Epilogue
Now we are back to the meeting. It is about creating this space for trust. [ ].
[ ]. It is also in some way scary.
To listen?
Yeah, but also being listened to. Maybe you see something I am trying to hide [ ] maybe it takes some courage [ ].
Colophon
Anthology for Listening
Vol. I
Edited and published 2022 by Bureau for Listening, Copenhagen
Graphic work for printed version by Barbora Kováčová
Layout for online version by Bureau for Listening
© The artists, contributors and Bureau for Listening
ISBN (printed version): 978-87-974029-2-4
ISBN (online version: 978-87-974029-1-7
Printed version consists of 96 pages, riso printed at ACTUM Copenhagen, no cover and glue binding.
All hand sampled, painted, and numbered.
Circulation of 100 numbered copies.
There is always a kind of ambivalence when publishing and offering space for work. Bureau for Listening acknowledges that our privilege has made this anthology possible. We still have a lot to learn, and we owe a fundamental thanks to forces, relations and beings outside of our scope.
This anthology is attempted in a printed, online and live version. Each version offers different practices to thrive.
The anthology can be found in different independent bookstores and libraries.
It can among others be brought at Bladr – platform for artists’ books, Det Lilla Rum (qfeministic book café), Charlottenborg Kunsthal Bookshop, Brøg Litteraturbar and Møllegades Boghandel.
You are also welcome to write us for a purchase at bureauforlistening@gmail.com.
Anthology for Listening Vol I
Financial Transparency
Bureau for Listening have been unsuccessful in securing funding for Anthology for Listening vol. I. This means, that all the contributors have been working without financial compensation. This is also the case for the members of the bureau whom have spend long time organizing, editing, sampling etc. the publication.
The total cost of the printed production (and online version) summed 20.000 DKK (paper, print, clue, paint, transport, packaging, graphic layout etc.). This cost was paid for privately by a member of the bureau due to the possibility of being able and privileged to do so. If all books are sold to the retail price (350 DKK) the costs might equal the income. We do participate a deficit.
Bureau for Listening does not have a non-for-profit strategy, but strive for a profit-for-survival. This project were unable to offer fair compensation to the contributors and have so far failed our intentions. We will continue to seek funding and to create a better, more fair and sustainable, publication. A decisive experience for our next publication is the goal of keeping expenses lower in terms of production. Thereby better enable compensation for the work contributed.
To all the contributors, and the members of the bureau: We hope for and works towards doing better, and we thank you for all the wonderful work and trust placed in the project.
Below: the original open call for possible contributions for volume I.
Open Call 〜 Anthology for Listening
vol. I
Anthology for Listening vol. I
Submit your contribution or proposal to bureauforlistening@gmail.com
(Subject: Anthology for Listening)
Final date for submission: 19. October 2022 23.59.
Bureau for Listening is looking for your contribution to our first ever Anthology for Listening.
We are curious about your take on and interpretation of listening. We welcome contributions of any form and genre, any medium and any duration that relates to the concept of listening. Bureau for Listening is a trans-disciplinary collective working to promote listening as a critical, empathetic and open-ended practice.
The publication of Anthology for Listening will mark the 1-year anniversary of Bureau for Listening. It will be published online and as printed matter (in a sustainable way, most likely riso).
Photos of printed version:
As the printed version of the Anthology for Listening Vol. I is sampled, glued and painted by hand we thought it could be nice to share a little bit of this mediative and sensuous practice:
And from our book reception the 8th of December 2022:
