OCEANIC MEMORY
Inspired by ecological systems and decolonial practices, Oceanic Memory is a sonic experience of collective active listening. Through sonic marine water elements, this sonority navigates between histories and routes of colonial legacies and contemporary migrations. The saltwater space is the common thread of these intertwined stories and histories, a kind of aquatic narrative of the colonial histories of the oceans, specifically of European seas such as the Mediterranean and the North Sea, as well as the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The ocean is not an "empty space," but a space full and rich with stories, histories, relationships, connections and entanglements. Similar stories and roots cross these waters (Ndikung & Römhild, 2023).
︎Listen HERE
Oceanic Memory was a collective experiment in active listening held on May 27th in Civitella in the context of the art residency L'Aquila Reale, Licenza, Rome (IT).
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© L'Aquila Reale
Instructions for the action collective listening:
This collective active listening experience called Oceanic Memory is an experiment in collective listening. I mean "collective listening" not only to actively listen to the sound fragments that I am exploring together, but also to tune our ears to listen to the other, to actively listen to the person who is close to us in this moment.
This collective active listening experiment is part of one of my research methodologies between the juxtaposition of art and anthropology, where my initial questions were What is listening, from biological, physical and social perspectives, Who do we listen to and Who do we let listen to?
This experience will be a welcoming space for all of us to talk about our personal experience on the idea of territory, heritage and impact in territory, ethics and public art. I would like our conversation to be inspired by decolonial ideas, where there are no hierarchies of knowledge, languages and ways of thinking (I will repeat this last sentence in English, because I hope it is a welcoming space where we can speak the languages we feel comfortable with, e.g., English, Español and Italiano).
To open this experiment we will now listen to an unfinished sound piece from my recordings with oceans and seas, particularly the Mediterranean, the Nordic seas, the Atlantic and the Pacific. Water stories that host different past, present and future histories.
