Un· Tuning Together. Practicing listening with Pauline Oliveros

from September 20th to December 2nd 2023

Curators: Maud Jacquin and Émilie Renard

With No Anger, Julia E Dyck, Célin Jiang, Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos, Anna Holveck, Violaine Lochu, Emily Mast, Lauren Tortil and Christopher Willes with Ellen Furey and Brendan Jensen, with works by Pauline Oliveros and contributions from IONE and Deep Listeners Ximena Alarcón, Sylvie Decaux, Lisa Barnard Kelley

Inaugural off-site performance: Sunday, September 17, from 2pm to 5pm
For a Helter Skelter Rain, an environmental concert by Lauren Tortil along the Canal Saint Martin.
Exhibition opening: Friday, September 22, from 4pm to 9pm

This group exhibition is inspired by a unique concept of listening that the American experimental composer Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) refers to as Deep Listening, which, in her words, "involves going beneath the surface of what is heard." At the heart of this practice is an acute awareness of the fact that there is always more to hear "beneath the surface" of the audible, in the recesses of the acoustic environment. The Deep Listening experience is open to new forms of sensoriality and represents a commitment to continue developing our listening skills through scores that, rather than guiding the interpretation of music, suggest attentional strategies and ways of listening to ourselves, others and the environment. In Oliveros’ work, the practice of attention is most often conducted in a collective setting. In most of her compositions, she provides open-ended indications that must be negotiated collectively by the performers, involving a great deal of attention and receptivity to others and to what is happening.

The exhibition "Un· Tuning Together" brings Pauline Oliveros’ practice face to face with those of artists whose research reflects and expands on her proposals. Each artist is invited to inhabit the entire space and to share with participating audiences practices that bring into play the principles of improvisation and mutual listening within a group. Their proposals alternate in a programme of collective work and public performances. Oliveros’ work will also be practised collectively through regular sessions dedicated to the experience of Sonic Meditations. Her work has become a kind of catalyst for thinking collectively - with artists, researchers, participating audiences and the Bétonsalon team - about how bodies involved in these listening practices can generate changes on both personal and social levels.

Pauline Oliveros and the ♀ Ensemble performing the Sonic Meditations, 1970, Rancho Santa Fe, CA. Pauline Oliveros Papers. Mandeville Special Collections | Library, Université de Californie, San Diego. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of The Pauline OliverosTrust -(PaulineOliveros.us -Members ASCAP)

This exhibition is the second part of "Dissolving your ear plugs", curated by Maud Jacquin with Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, at the Musée d’art de Joliette, Québec, from June 11 to September 4, 2023.

Exhibition partners:

The exhibition is produced in collaboration with the Musée d’art de Joliette, Quebec. It is supported by ADAGP - Société d’auteurs française pour les arts visuels, the Fondation d’entreprise Pernod Ricard, the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie du Québec and the Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères de la République française, as part of the Commission permanente de coopération franco-québécoise (CPCFQ), the Institut Français and the City of Paris, Wallonie Bruxelles International and the international residencies programme at the Centre d’accueil et d’échanges des Récollets de la Ville de Paris; and a partnership with the IAC for the Space Brain Laboratory.