A parallel activity to the retrospective exhibition on Mona Hatoum, , is being held in the form of a workshop based on the artist’s production, directed by the School of Electro-Acoustic Crafts (Escuela de Oficios Electrosonoros) in collaboration with the ENSEMS festival. It will propose a reflection on our perception of everyday objects and how they change with the scale of their presentation. The workshop will seek to modify the acoustic perception of the everyday by exploring what happens when we play with amplifying things that are very small, soft and light.

It will introduce an experiment in education-art, a creative laboratory organized as a series of workshops to explore the possible meaning of amplified sound. Listening is often subordinated to the tyranny of our own attention. We do not listen to what is not interesting to us, and like this we demonstrate an infinite capacity for selective deafness. This workshop is intended to vindicate the existence of sounds that are blocked out, ignored or even scorned by an ear that depends too much on the sense of sight.

It is not necessary to have prior knowledge of working with sound. The sessions are independent, but registration is recommended for all of them to follow the workshop process.

USEFUL INFO

• Time: 12 am – 2 pm.
• Dates: 15 and 29 May, 12 and 26 June, 3 July. It is possible to book all dates or individual sessions.
• Place: IVAMlab1
• For: young people (16+) and adults
• Maximum number: 15 people
• Design, creation and activation: Escuela de Oficios Electrosonoros

Escuela de Oficios Electrosonoros (School of ElectroAcoustic Crafts) is an education art project centred on experimentation with sound, sound art, electronic music and listening. Two of its members are Patricia Raijenstein, a teacher and art educator who carries out educational projects at museums with a gender perspective, and Jesús Jara, a cultural mediator whose work endeavours in highlighting the importance of technology in contemporary musical creation.

Safety measures: For the proper functioning of the workshop and to do it with total safety, for the health of all, the wearing of a surgical mask is mandatory. It will be necessary to use hydroalcoholic gel before each session and at the end of the workshop. The safety distance of more than one and a half meters will be kept.

PROGRAM

Session 1: The object speaks for me.

• Date: Saturday, May 15.
• Time: from 12 to 14 h.
• The first day of the project will be focusing on getting to know the work group and the objectives we want to achieve during this creative process. For this, we will introduce ourselves through personal and everyday objects and we will work on the construction of loudspeakers. We will end with a rite of passage from which we intend that the participants enhance their ability to amplify the subtle and/or the ignored.
  Requirements: personal object.

Session 2: Looks like you were not there.

• Date: Saturday, May 29th.
• Time: from 12 to 14 h.
• Through deep listening exercises we will delve into the possibilities of perceiving the world from other sound criteria. We will explore the vibrations of objects with contact microphones, we will get to know our allies, the tape recorders and we will propose to start a new challenge, the sound diaries.
  Requirements: if you have a recorder, bring it with you.

Session 3: Sound construction.

• Date: Saturday, June 12.
• Time: from 12 to 14 h.
• This session will be focusing on the construction of sound pieces from our own or other people’s recordings. We will use the free software program Audacity to practice some sound manipulation exercises and we will have the opportunity to visit Mona Hatoum’s exhibition.
  Requirements: a computer with Audacity installed.

Session 4: Amplify, please.

• Date: Saturday, June 26th.
• Time: from 12 to 14 h.
• We will focus the session on denaturalizing sound and exploring the amplification of them through different everyday objects. We will also work on the construction of the final sound action that we will present on the last day, compiling the learnings made during the workshop.
  Requirements: if you have a teapot, bring it.

Session 5: Revealed sound.

• Date: Saturday, July 3rd.
• Time: 12h.
• The last session will be focused on sharing what we have learned, playing with each other and with other people through sound. For this, we will perform a sound action where we will reflect the different tools learned using self-powered loudspeakers.