Fire as Listening
IN WHAT WAYS DOES LISTENING FOLLOW THE ARCHITECTURE OF FIRE?
'Børsen', an old 400 years historical building in Copenhagen, 24 hours after it started to burn down - the iconic copper tower with 4 dragons and three already collapsed and fallen down. While the building was a symbol of 'Business', it was also the architectural remains of emperialism and despotism, colonial power and oppression in general. (Maybe this fire was the long-awaited revenge of the witches burned at the stake by Danish King Christian IV, who at the same time burned more than 400 witches and allocated money for this prestige building project.
‘ARCHITECTURE IS IDEOLOGY
ARCHITECTURE STRUCTURES ACOUSTICS
ARCHITECTURE IS SOUND DESIGN
SOUND DESIGN IS LAW AND ORDER
WHEN YOU CAN’T DESTROY THE BUILDINGS
CHANGE THE SOUND,
CHANGE THE LISTENING’
(Tobias R. Kirstein, Claus Haxholm & Rasmus Holmboe, Handbook of Aggressive Listening. Self-published artists’ book, 2018.)
Sometimes the building are destroyed for you
Sometimes fire directs the sound design, the law and order
Sometimes fire becomes a day long performative and destructive form of architecture
One that not only sends out sounds, but also redirect sounds, and attracts sounds
One that reprogram our emotions and responses
When architecture changes, your listening changes too
When fire changes the architecture, your listening changes – with the fire
How may we think of fire as listening – as an attentive force, taking in the world, observing and receiving all its material?
How may we think of a listening that follows the fire – it’s chaos and ashes, its social intuitive response, its unravel of histories, narratives and orientations?
A poem:
One could also whisper, as one might whisper to the burned ghosts of loved ones;
Smell the smoke and touch the ashes
Breathe as if you must
Collect your 400 years of memories in the form of screams and laughter
Sense the movements, these which started and these which stopped, these which endlessly withdrew
Follow as only an idea and an attention are able to follow
Listen to the fire – it too is whispering – whispering back
Pay attention to the chaotic score for listening
Written for wood, stones, metal and canvases
And to be assisted by water, heavy machinery, tears and commands
Buy its free releases on all platforms, share and like, soon the concert is over
This single prayer, performed by its martyr and consumed by its disciplines
Do you hear the witches scream? Do you feel it in your bones?
Do you listen to their slow and enlightening curses and spells?
Listen to how the fire as a co-listener invites you to listen anew – how it frees your senses and spirits
Feel the fire as it vibrates your bones and souls
Don’t be bewildered, you too are burning, you too may listen to the spells cast by ghosts