Listening Together (Workshop)

A series of public sessions through and around listening hosted by Alice Chauchat, Valentina Desideri and guests.

It is often said that hearing comes before listening. Hearing is a physical phenomenon—a sensory process in which sound vibrations touch the eardrum. The mechanics of audition are, quite literally, a matter of contact: vibration, transmission, touch. Listening, by contrast, is an act of attention. It is the conscious willingness to let these vibrations reach further into us, to allow them to generate meaning, emotion, and insight. In this sense, listening deepens hearing. It transforms a simple physical event into a broader experience of being touched—physically, emotionally, energetically. Listening becomes a necessary condition for empathy. One might say: to truly hear, we must listen. And yet, in doing so, the distinction begins to blur and fold back onto itself. 

When we listen together, we do not hear the same thing. Different elements draw our attention, move us, resonate with our singular experiences. I know you hear something different from me—but I cannot know what you hear. How, then, can we hold this multiplicity? How can we honor a difference that remains inaccessible to us? The listening meditations developed by Pauline Oliveros have opened pathways for practices across music, art, and activism. They remind us of the importance of attention, of allowing the unexpected to emerge, and of resonating collectively without erasing difference. At a time of growing polarization, this capacity feels increasingly urgent. 

In this particular proposition, listening is extended further. The terms hearing and listening are used in a synesthetic sense, inviting a form of attention that does not separate the senses. An image, a smell, a temperature, or a situation may touch us just as sound does. The person becomes like a large ear: we are invited to hear with the whole body—with all our senses, with our sensitivity, memory, thoughts, and political awareness. Here, “hearing” names this expanded experience of being touched. And from this touch, response may emerge—not only as reflection or speech, but also as movement. Dancing becomes one possible continuation of listening: a way of giving form to what has been received. 

In these public sessions, Alice, Valentina, and their guests invite participants into shared listening practices. Together, they will explore different ways of attending—making space not only for what is heard, but for what cannot be shared, translated, or fully understood. What emerges is not agreement, but a fragile coexistence: a space where difference is neither resolved nor reduced, but sustained. A space where listening becomes an ethical act—an openness to being touched that does not demand access, and a presence with others that does not seek to possess or define what they hear. 

To participate, please register here. For more info email valentina.desideri@kkh.se

More sessions might be added, please check the website for updated info.