Around the Fire: Sound Experimentation Lab for Making Listening and Sound into Practices of Refuge, Containment and Resistance

Abstract

This article presents the project Around the Fire, a sensitive laboratory that arises from active listening, and reflects on the potential of sound art to accompany experiences of gendered violence from an affective, situated and collective perspective. It describes two executions of said Project: one action in the context of a feminist protest march, and another in a workshop within a university context. In both cases, the explicit representation of violence was avoided, privileging sound practices that allowed pain to be shared in ways that transcended conventional frameworks of reporting and representation. The methodology was built in an open, situated way, in dialog with the participants and their needs and preferred ways of participation. This process led to the creation of various collective sound pieces that function as affective testimonies and non-traditional forms of reporting. Lastly, it reflects on how, through the act of listening and sound creation, spaces of expression, connection and memory can be activated, thus offering sensitive pathways for accompanying individual and collective healing processes.