As we prepare to take over the Barbican on Sunday 20 February, our marketing assistant Meg looks at the significance of listening to place in reconnecting with our surroundings.

Barbican Centre – Sunday 13 February 2022

* As I stroll towards the Barbican centre one Sunday evening, the clink of bike chains echo in the nearby tunnel, leaving a tinny air. Taxis are repeatedly interrupted by the lit-up zebras, causing mechanical sighs from their exhaust pipes. While turning onto Silk Street, the edges of the surrounding bricks shape the wind into a forceful gust, nearly knocking me down. I hurry inside and the concrete, cavernous space welcomes me in.

I shiver on the Lakeside Terrace waiting for a friend to arrive. The regular patter of friendship makes up the sonic underlay of the space. The fabric of coats scrunch as people embrace and muffled hellos come from behind masks. I wander over to the body of water and watch droplets from the sky plunge into the lake. Each splash pings like the rustle of keys in a pocket. At this point, the wind drops to a whisper, still mighty in its attack but soft on the ears. I take a breath, a deep inhale. The cold air makes my nose whistle. An eerie hush descends on this little patch of concrete, but only lasts a moment. A hug from my friend snaps me out of my bubble and we descend underground to watch a film. After our cinema trip, we part ways and I head back through the same tinny aired tunnel, nudged by a gentle breeze. *

After two years of living in a pandemic, the theme of ‘listening to place’ feels especially pertinent. As we age and move geographically, the possibilities for how we interact with the world grow exponentially, and yet our awareness of our surroundings often diminishes as the hustle and bustle of life takes over.

Our curated event listening to place invites and challenges the audience to find a space of active listening, introducing us to familiar environmental sounds from around the world. By tuning back into the sounds we often ignore, we are reminded of the beauty and evocative nature of those everyday sounds.

Meg Holch

Read on for a glimpse of the locations and spaces which have inspired our curated event listening to place.

More info + tickets

Location: Bourse du Travail, Bobigny

Photolanguage’s images of brutalist Paris will accompany Langham Research Centre’s evening performance, showcasing some of the spaces which inspired and can be heard in their work.

Location: Dandora, Nairobi, Kenya

Jacob Kirkegaard’s audiovisual work TESTIMONIUM will be shown both in the interval (online) and before the main event (in person). The piece takes recordings from Dandora, one of the world’s largest landfills.

Location: Bricklayers Arms Roundabout, Bermondsey

The inspiration for Kate Carr’s work, featuring an assortment of instruments and noisemakers including turntables, a geophone and a selection of toy cars.

Location: Imsfrane Cathedral, Morocco

Rebeca Omordia will perform Nabil Benabdeljalil’s nocturne ‘Imsfrane Cathedral in the Middle Atlas’. The name refers to a mountain climbed by the composer during the pandemic.