"Sound is a present absence; silence is an absent presence. Or perhaps the reverse is better: sound is an absent presence; silence is a present absence? In this sense, sound is a sinister resonance – an association with irrationality and inexplicability, that which we both desire and dread. Listening, then, is a specimen of mediumship, a question of discerning and engaging with what lies beyond the world of forms."

David Toop, Sinister Resonance

"Intense life today means first of all more performance or more consumption. We have forgotten that it is precisely inactivity, which does not produce anything, that represents an intense and radiant form of life . . . Silence deepens conversation. Without stillness there is no music - just sound and noise. Play is the essence of beauty."

Byung-Chul Han, Vita contemplativa 

What is soundbody? 

Soundbody is a resonant, listening being, investigating its inner and external spaces, experimenting with sensory potential, physicality and stillness.

We will explore the potentiality of micro-sound and non-intentional movement as an ecological approach to being in space. The first step is to listen intensively but the act of listening will be extended beyond hearing through the ears to the whole body. Through exercises in movement, attention, awareness, breathing, inner listening and sound improvisations we will develop a listening that intensifies and tunes in our experience of being in relation to space, to our own body and to each other.

Schedule

Three days, from 11 to 2 /
1 hour lunch break
from 3 to 6

Requirements: comfortable, non-restrictive clothes for movement, water, warm clothes and shoes suitable for outdoor work on day 3 (dependent on weather). 

Materials/objects with which to make sound. Please bring simple objects. On day 2 we will work with foraged objects. On day 1, introduction to improvisation, we can also work with devices of your choice, but electronic instruments must be self-contained with their own amplification.