Listening Room 1

'Art isn’t made to experience only once. How many times have you watched your favourite film or listened to a favourite song/album? Most galleries are free to visit and if you’ve had the habit of going every now and then, you may have a favourite piece of work.

But what about audio? Whether it’s a podcast, radio production or something in between, I don’t think we’ve developed the same listening habits compared to other mediums.

When was the last time you’ve listened to a podcast more than once if ever? Why?

Have we given in to the competing forces that demand our attention or has nothing been made that speaks to us in a way worthy of our time?

This curation is an invitation to pause.

I want to share pieces with you that have made me forget where I am and who I was and other works that have made me feel a lack, or reimagine a possibility that I didn’t begin to think existed. And yes. of course, I have shamelessly repeated all of these productions, hoping to hear it for the first time again.

I hope you do too. '

Axel Kacoutié

Axel Kacoutié is a multi-award-winning audio artist and poet who's been working with sound, music, and words to challenge the familiar and revive the magic in the mundane. His work has featured on BBC Radio 3 & 4, Channel 4's Random Acts and NOWNESS. He is also the Sound Designer and theme composer for the Guardian's daily news podcast, Today in Focus.

Featured in this room

The Phoenix's Last Song // Sami El-Enany
The legend of the paradisiacal bird who descends to earth in order to die.
First heard: as an audiovisual installation in collaboration with Dorine van Meel at Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn in the Netherlands in 2019

^{Composition and Production: Sami El-Enany
Text and Image: Dorine van Meel
Voice: Emma Bennett}

SOUTH X SOUTH EAST // Belinda Zhawi
A journey from Southern Africa to South-East London in poetry, music and sound.
First heard: BBC New Creatives

^{Editing, Poetry, Sound Design, Vocals: Belinda Zhawi
Contributors: Marysia Osuchowska and Caleb A Nelson
Producer: NTS}

Visible // Jonathan Mitchell
A blind man gets a Seeing Eye App.
First heard: The Truth

^{Cast: Russell G. Jones (TOM); Rachel Hamilton (VISIBLE); Ann Carr (WOMAN IN GALLERY); Kerry Kastin (DEDE)
Writer: Louis Kornfeld
With help from Diana McCorry
Producer: Jonathan Mitchell}

#PROLOGUE - ‘Langue maternelle’ // Catherine de Coppet
An exploration of the distant and close relationship to the ‘mother tongue’.
First heard: Retour à la langue

^{Producer: Catherine de Coppet}

If // Sherre DeLys
Music: Andrew Salter, Ion Pearce (voice and cello) and Hannah Peters.
First heard: ABC, Australia

^{Conceived, composed and directed: Sherre DeLys
Sound Recording, Design, Mix: John Jacobs
Music: Ion Pearce (voice and cello) and Hannah Peters}

I'm So Sorry // Eleanor McDowall
A self-portrait made out of apologies sent in recent emails.
First heard: Audio Playground

^{Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Music: Jeremy Warmsley}

How to Remember // Axel Kacoutié
Axel attempts to reconcile and accept all the parts of his identity that he’s either wrongly internalised or intuitively known to be true.
First heard: BBC Radio 4's Short Cuts

^{Producer: Axel Kacoutié}

Lesbian Separatism Is Inevitable // Phoebe Unter & NK
How NK & Phoebe fell in art love.
First heard: The Heart

^{Writer and Producer: Phoebe Unter and Nicole Kelly
Sound Design: Phoebe Unter
Editing: Kaitlin Prest}

I Was Flying // Vanessa Lowe
A collective portrait of the experience of flying in dreams.
First heard: Nocturne

^{Producer, Editing and Mix: Vanessa Lowe.
Thanks to the Flyers: Kyra Xavia, Jane Maupin Bynon, Jakob Lewis, Lisa Pezzulich, Dana Albert, Robin Galante, Rosalie Wodecki, Maurice Tani, Walker Brents, Finn Sparlowe, Winnie Dunn, and Stephanie Rubin.}

<sup>'Special thanks to Heidi Anderson, Neva Moore, Jemma, Artorias Stark, David Green, Rexter Chambers, David Fisher, Hugo Arenivas, Joseph Potter, Robert Shaw, Mary Jo Eyler, Leslie-Ann Case, Sleep with Me Podcast, and Camilla Meshiea, Marta Pelrine-Bacon, Kay Challis, Tara, Doug Salamon, Edward Champion.'

Kent Sparling, Jeffrey Foster, and Kyron.

Music: Nocturne theme music by Kent Sparling</sup>

Collage and animation by Nina Garthwaite with images courtesy of Axel Kacoutié, Lou Jasmine, Dorine van Meel, Catherine de Coppet & Sophie Chauvin, feat. Moeder en kind, Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, 1929 (with the kind permission of the Rijksmuseum).