SLOW LISTENING

A transdisciplinary group/forum/framework/gathering hosted and organized by:

Bureau for Listening // Slow Research Lab

 

Dearest friends

(A constituting mail going out among friends and describing what this could be about, and how we imagined pursuing it…)

What are the interdependencies of listening and slowness? How to listen slowly? When is listening in/of slowness? In what way do listening and slowness in each other’s tender company invite and enable expanded ways of being? Of researching, creating art, resisting, and wondering? 

 

Listening has long been considered a ‘tool’ of Slow research. The listening takes different forms, has distinct shapes and dimensions depending on the context, and of course depending on the listener. Slow listening is a means to honing perception and intuition, listening not only with the ears, but with the full range of human senses. It is both a local practice in the here and now as well as one that can traverse stretches of time and space. We strive for listening as an affectionate act within an in/visible field of planetary entanglements. In all cases it is intimate and inclusive, moving inward and outward to nurture new affections and forms of connection for self and others, human and more-than-human. 

 

Bureau for Listening and Slow Research Lab would like to venture into the field of slow listening. Without a timeframe and a fixed idea of conduct or product we search different ways of being slow and listening beings. We wish to search for different ways of cultivating and caring for slow listening, as a possible way for artistic resistances and practice, philosophical wondering and a research framework. We seek to set-up a group, an entanglement and meeting, where we give time and space to slow listening. This will likely happen indirectly, explicitly, hidden and mysteriously — within, in-between, beyond and just right here right now.

 

We would like to invite all interested to offer feedback, share ideas and practices, and participate in the coming joint slow listening exploration and practice.

 

Please write us at: 

bureauforlistening@gmail.com

info@slowlab.net

 

Kindly and with love

Your sincerely

Slow Research Lab and Bureau for Listening

 

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Planned dates for Slow Listening Gatherings:

 

As of December 2023 will we be meeting second to the last thursday of each month. This allows us to do some planning and programming of the events.

 

(If you wish to join the online gatherings, please write us at: bureauforlistening@gmail.com  / info@slowlab.net)

Thursday the 18th of January (19.00-20.30) (Online)

 

Thursday the 22nd of February (19.00-20.30) (Online)

 

Thursday the 21st of Marts (19.00-20.30) (Online)

 

Thursday the 18th of April (19.00-20.30) (Online)

 

Thursday the 23rd of May (19.00-20.30) (Online)

 

Thursday the 2oth of June (19.00-20.30) (Online)

Other/archive:

First assembly on the 20th of September:

Now we are happy to invite all of you to our first assembly on the 20th of September, 7pm CET (Central European Time). The meeting takes place on Zoom and will be capped at a maximum of  90 minutes. A link to the Zoom space will be sent as we get closer to the date..

 

For our first convening, we’d like to ground and nurture our community-in-becoming with introductions and a brief sharing of thoughts and practices from each of you.  With that in mind, your ‘assignment’ is to bring to our first meeting an object/gesture/story that for you resonates with the concept of Slow Listening. Please be prepared to show and tell us about it (max 3 minutes per person). In this way, together we will begin creating a path forward for this research.

 

How to proceed from there? We are imagining some kind of regular, returning assembly format — perhaps shifting between online meeting, remote exercises/sharing and physical get-togethers. We don’t have a master plan, but rather trust in the (slow) unfolding of this process as we all get our bearings and find the right rhythm of engagement — shaping the space and pace together.

 

If you would like to join, or know people who would, but haven’t been in contact with us yet, please reach out to us via info@slowlab.net and/or bureauforlistening@gmail.com.

 

Kindly and with love

Your sincerely

Slow Research Lab and Bureau for Listening

 

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Call for SLOW LISTENING:

This can be thought of as a ‘first attempted declaration of intention for a possible slow listening group’. As everything, it will beautifully change over time.

 

It can be difficult to know, in the beginning, exactly what the process is and even what the next step should be. Therefore, here in the beginning, in the opening and the awaiting, the call will just flow freely. We hope it will touch and begin to seep into you, start chains of ideas and emotions. We hope to allow it to be whatever it truly can be.

 

We will reach out again when a date and invitation for the first assembly is set. Feel free to still respond in the meantime.