Listening as action. Movements and gestures to sound and music in the everyday life of the city

Vortrag von Marta García Quiñones

While listening has tended to be considered as a passive and mainly mental reception process, there is an increasing need to reshape the concept in the light not only of emerging conceptions of embodied and enactive cognition, but also of new listening experiences favoured by reproduction technologies –particularly mobile listening and the ubiquitous presence of all kinds of music in public spaces. In this context, Marta García Quiñones´ lecture will make out a case for an understanding of listening as a form of action, illustrating the argumentation with everyday situations created around sound and music in different urban settings. Thus, it will deal with listeners as spontaneous participants in public sound events, and will analyze their listening attitudes as a means of social interaction not necessarily linked to traditional patterns of spectatorship. Further, she will discuss various ways of physical reaction to sound and music in public and private spaces, from spontaneous gatherings to several common forms of gestural engagement. By doing so, her intention is to stress the importance of the bodily dimension of listening for a better understanding not only of experiences with sound, but also of the many sensorial dimensions of city life.

im Programm von Tuned City
Subjective Soundscapes / 08.07.11