Listening, for a better world

A seminar led by Harry Coade and Dr. Mike Edwards of Sound Matters

In this seminar, Harry and Mike will discuss the reasons why they have dedicated their lives to creating an organisation that uses sound, and the art of listening, to address environmental challenges such as climate change. Through a discussion of their personal journeys in the art of music making and climate change research, they will show why they think sound and listening hold the key to finding new ways of imagining futures where the human and more-than-human worlds can flourish.

A central theme of the seminar will be an exploration of why creating an aesthetic around environmental crises is key to solving them. The seminar will challenge some of the dominant discourses of climate change, and broader environmental narratives, to explore the possibility that most mainstream approaches to addressing the crises we face are unlikely to succeed because they are based on technological hubris, rather than love, empathy and connection.  

Drawing on their experiences of soundscape analysis, Harry and Mike will explore the power of sound for connecting people to the processes shaping the world. In addition, they will introduce a concept called Systems-Based Listening which they have developed to help restore degraded landscapes in southern Spain.  

The aim of the seminar is to show that sound and listening have the capacity to create cultural change – the sort of change that is needed if threats, such as the climate crisis, are to be addressed. The type of cultural change that is required cannot be achieved through science and technology alone; it requires the ‘dirt’ and ‘mess’ of the human condition which is best represented, and expressed, through the arts.