The Open Body (monster)
2020

How does listening change us? In what ways do the sounds we hear alter us and our bodies? What are the consequences of listening – do we not listen in order to be moved, to be effected? Is not listening a form of monstering, where noises and vibrations, silences and the words of others inhabit the body, figuring one as always already in touch with a multiplicity of forces and meanings.

To be moved, and to move in return; to search by way of the graspability of things; to find support, to gain support, and to give support; what types of identity emerge from such relational intensities, by way of the externality always closer than imagined; to figure the body by way of the things, objects, voices that touch, that make of the body a consortium.

The work focuses on these questions and views, drawing out listening as an experience of transformation. Through improvisational movement, the work is based on attuning to a given space or environment and moving in response to the (im)materiality surrounding. From soft humming and incidental sounds to things and energies in the room, the performers draw out listening as an exercise in openness, interruption, syncopated dynamics. This is extended toward a greater imaginary and relational perspective, in which the performers also listen inwardly, and to each other, fixating on memories, associations, gestures of empathy, escape. Throughout the long-durational process, the performers learn from their surroundings, and from each other’s movements, incorporating this into themselves in order to move in a collaborative manner: to partner with the matters, things, forms and vibrations that impinge and impact the body. What results is a slow, meditative process of mutation, where the body opens itself to its surroundings, and to itself, to create and inhabit a sensitive scene of slow attention. Following Anna Tsing, the work speaks towards an “art of noticing” by creating a space of listening, as what can enable engagement with others, especially that which is nonhuman and often invisible.

With Catalina Tello, Kailin Badal Thomas, Rodrigo Opazo, and Hugo Peña Lagos.