We go to museums and galleries to see art, but how about going out to hear art? The Listening Biennial 2023 and its various exhibits and activities from July 8 to August 11 at the University of the Philippines-Diliman offers a new way to appreciate art in a different medium.
The Listening Biennial brings together Filipino and international artists who use sound as an art medium. It features music, but it is not just limited to music; it also includes experimental noise, acoustic storytelling, ASMR, and other auditory installations and dialogues that play on the power of listening.
The second edition of the Biennial in Manila is curated by Dr. Dayang Yraola, an associate professor at the University of the Philippines-College of Fine Arts and the curator of the PAROLA-UP Fine Arts Gallery; UP is the main host of the Asia leg.
The launch opens with a sound bath by Anjeline de Dios, a performance from the art collective Elemento, and a walkthrough of the exhibit with the participating artists and curator.
The first part of the exhibit at the Ground Floor Lobby of Parola is “use your ears”, which is a playful take on the old Filipino adage “Mata kasi ang gamitin, hindi bibig!” (“Look with your eyes, not your mouth!”).
It is a listening exhibit that features the works of 25 artists from different regions selected by the Biennial’s five curators.
In various locations throughout the building are the second and third parts of the exhibit titled “there is no sound artist, just sound art”. These feature sound installation works from 19 Philippine-based artists, as well as a restaging of “Sandata” by Lirio Salvador, and “Atang, a Sound Prayer” from last year’s UP Diliman Arts and Culture Festival.
If you want to literally “hang out” with sound art, there is the Listening Tambayan, another component of The Listening Biennial. The program, which focuses on the community and is a means to listen collectively, will feature 15- to 40-minute live sessions by guest practitioners recorded live and with a select audience at the College of Mass Communications Auditorium in UP Diliman.
These sessions will then be aired on DZUP, the official AM radio station of the campus and streamed at DZUP’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. The Listening Tambayan schedule will air on July 10, 11, and 12 with morning (9am to 12pm) and afternoon (2 to 5pm) sessions.
In general, The Listening Biennial and its programs aim to take “the art of listening” one step further, and we are all ears.
