Questions and invitations for Listening
Questions and invitations for Listening were written and called out into the room at Listening Event I as part of a Testing Ground residency at Art Hub Copenhagen.
As a group we were collectively facing the facade windows watching people passing by rather than looking at each other.
Transcription of the recording:
Do you listen to the suffering of another?
Is listening, the act of listening, dependent on sound?
What am I not hearing?
What is the relation between trust and listening?
When are we not listening? When do we have the courage to own that?
How much listening is violence?
What does it actually mean to listen… listen… listen?
How can I share how listening feels on my skin?
[laughter]
Can I listen to the thoughts of the people passing by on the other side of the glass?
As I feel that someone is looking at me, In what way can I feel that someone is listening to me?
Do you feel more comfortable being listened to when others don’t perform active listening?
Maybe no one ever really can listen. They can’t because their brain is noisy because they are wondering when they get to talk and what to say. And maybe that’s okay. We can still try.
Who do I listen to? Who and what do I give my attention to?
Is this a place to lay down and listen?
Listen up, listen down.
Non-active listening: practice non-active listening. Get into that headspace. Not passive listening. Soft, non-performativ, surrendering. Listen without nodding or talking. Without looking the speaker in the eyes. Without even facing them. Just listen.
Who said that?
Do you listen with an open heart?
Listen to the silence.
What is silence? What does silence sound like? Is it ever silent? Is silence a privilege?
When you deep dive, you have to release air from your ears. Is that a kind of listening?
Can you recognise the external sound of your voice?
How do you listen to political struggle?
Listen carefully, I will only say this once.
Listen to your heart, then you know what you want to do.
Can you listen without acting? Is listening a form of acting?
Can you only listen when you are well rested, when you have food, water, and the room is at the right temperature.
Do you even listen?
Do you listen while dreaming?
Are you ready to listen? And when are you ready to listen?
How do you listen to spirits?
Does the listening in the city also cycle?
How do you listen to a bicycle?
When did you feel forced to listen when you didn’t want to hear?
Sometimes it takes listening to a song 15 times before you really hear what they’re singing about.
Sounds like listening to metal.
Are the words listening [inaudible].
You are invited to refuse being listened to. You are invited to refuse offering your listening.
How is listening when I really give in to not producing?
When you have talked too much, your mouth gets dry. What happens when you have listened too much?
You don’t owe anyone your listening.
How can I start listening to the automatic thoughts in my head?
I love to listen to the wind.
Is the wind listening to us?
When are you listening with and when are you listening to?
In what ways do we listen to others differently than we listen to ourselves?
Listen to your body.
How do you listen to the pauses?
To listen in, but to hear out.
Can you listen to the future?
Would you hear it if someone, something, or somewhere was calling for you?
Have you listened with the forces?
[Longer pause]
[Laughing]
Who was the listening group of the last month?
Who is the listening group?
Can a forest listen to me?
Can you listen to me?
[laughter]
Can you listen through touch?
I listen better when my hands are up.
Do you listen with your hands?
Do you listen with your eyes?
Do you listen with your sense of smell?
Do you listen with your ears?
Yeah.
[Laughter]
Maybe not.
Do you listen with your ears if you’re deaf?
How do you listen if you don’t have ears?
Are we done listening?
Do you listen with your face?
Is it a resolution that we are hearing?
Do you connect through listening?
What is listening? What is [nonsense word/sound]?
Would it feel so good to crack your joints if it doesn’t make a sound?
Do we listen to everything subconsciously?
Even when we don’t want to?
Could a listening station be used for non -military purposes?
How many years would it take to listen to all of the surveillance recordings made in the world?
Force losing your bearings in a physical historical archive and start listening to the collections around you.
Are the aliens recording our listening?
Do we need a modern day confession booth just for normal problems and not religious?
How does the world sound for the baby inside its mother’s.. oh.. stomach?
Can listening save lives?