Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With

April 22 to June 2, 2024 I Off site programming

Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With is a six-week series of workshops, conversations, and outdoor events that give space and time for asking how our personal, ancestral, and professional experiences and realities affect how we listen, and how we sound, specifically within the territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples. Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With recognizes that artists and all community members have work to do with respect to the climate emergency, social justice, and a meaningful commitment to respectful relations with the original peoples of these lands. 

Immersed in the overwhelming sounds of machines echoing within paved environments, those of us who have come from other places might not be aware of the traces, memories, echoes, and stories that still vibrate through these lands, skies, and waters.

Is it possible to come together over a series of gatherings to begin a process of change, reconnection and to strengthen relationships through listening and soundmaking? 

Questions

Some of the questions we are asking in Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With:

What unique ways do the land, rocks, and waters of this place resonate, vibrate, and sound within themselves? How might they influence how we listen and how we sound? Are we eavesdropping? How can listening, sounding, and artmaking benefit the people and other beings of this place?

How do people from different backgrounds, orientations, and cultures listen and sound within their respective positions?

What techniques of listening and attention do sonic practitioners already use in their daily lives and practices? How do these inform their relation to these questions?

Program Artists

An opening gathering on Sunday, April 28 will introduce Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With through a workshop with Yuxwelupton Bradley Dick, who will offer traditional ways of embarking on shared work in good relationships. In May, Yuxwelupton will lead a series of four workshops each focusing on a specific traditional story and inviting reflection on the soundscapes and images that are evoked.

Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With offers three open conversations: One led by Dylan Robinson with guests France Trepanier and Heather Iglolirte; another led by Giorgio Magnanensi with guest Peter Hatch; and a demonstrative conversation will take place with Rebecca Hass, Michael Benneyworth and others.

Hayalthkin’geme Carey Newman and Kirk McNally will present an immersive audio-visual preview of the Witness Blanket VR Experience followed by a discussion with special guest Olivia Shortt.

Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With will also feature audio works by Dylan Robinson and Yuxwelupton Bradley Dick as well as audio offerings from local Indigenous community members. 

Throughout the series, participants are invited to independently engage with listening practices through provided prompts and exercises. Onland sessions offer the opportunity to reconsider personal listening intentions and practices, and to develop collective ways to listen and sound from the perspective of these lands. Participants and guests also have the opportunity to make and contribute to audio recordings.

On June 1, an outdoor installation with Giorgio Magnanensi’s West Coast Radians - eight wood resonators - will bring sonic offerings made through the project to a wooded location in the area. 

A final Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With Open Gathering on June 2 invites everyone involved in the project to share insights, ideas, practices, and possible new ways of working. Giorgio Magnanensi’s wood resonators will be brought indoors to accommodate the sharing of sounds. Can how we listen, sound, and create benefit the people and other beings of this place?

Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With sessions are free, and open to anyone who would like to be involved. 

Registration, as indicated, is strongly recommended, as space is limited for some events.

Ləléʔnəŋ Listening-With is convened by Tina Pearson and Mitch Renaud.