Listening to Ourselves
An audio-visual project to inspire a conversation between you & yourself.
Gaylene Gould X Nina Robinson x ANNNN
As I live alone, lockdown has found me nattering to myself more than usual. I remind myself of things I'll most likely forget, tell myself a joke or talk myself through something tricky. This is all perfectly normal by the way. In fact it's pretty healthy. Sometimes though, my internal voice can be harsh if it thinks I'm messing up. It can be a terror....
For many years I've had the pleasure of interviewing people for a living. It’s always an insightful experience even if I, or whoever I'm interviewing, isn't quite in the right headspace. Because here is a stranger who has lived a life I haven't, who knows things I don't and sees a world I'm blind to. That’s pretty exciting whether the conversation is great or stilted.
Listening to Ourselves, TSTC's first online exploration, is an inquiry, an experiment and an invitation. What would happen if we were to interview ourselves with that same level of curiosity? What questions might we ask to probe a bit deeper? What if we were to maintain a sense of kindness throughout the inevitable delight, confusion, surprise and frustration? Meditation practices suggest we observe rather than engage with our thoughts. This is an invitation to do the opposite - to follow our meanderings and see where they might lead. One of the affects of dealing with the pandemic is an increased allostatic load to our brain which makes it harder to hold a thought. This exercise is a way to practise doing just that.
This experimental collaborative project is in three parts and is designed to inspire that conversation in myself and in you too. We hope you will join in the collaboration and share your conversations with us so, together, we can create a new audio piece.
Gaylene Gould
Listening to Ourselves,
Creative Director & collaborative artist
Photo series
Photography: Nina Robinson
Creative Director: Gaylene Gould
Listening to Ourselves is a photo series and a homage to those friends and neighbours who, during lock down, Gaylene had the pleasure of listening to and being listened to by. Photographer Nina Robinson, is also a family member and their collaboration represents the deepening of familial intimacies that took place for many during this exceptional time. The series is based on Gaylene's idea to capture those dear to her in dialogue with themselves. "I've always loved to see the tenderness on people's faces when they are listening to someone they care about. We wanted to imagine what it would be like if the person they were listening to was themselves."
Thanks to the friends & neighbours featured: Curtis Holder, Lisa Anderson, Nina Robinson, Steve Goggin, Beki Bateson and her children Iris and Elias.
See the full series on the gallery page.
Listening to Yourself
22 min
Soundscape by ANNN
Listening to Yourself is a gift and an invitation to you. ANNN's specially produced soundscape is offered here to inspire your own internal conversation.
Here are some suggestions to help you get the best from the experience:
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This soundscape is best listened to when alone and on headphones
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Talk to yourself out loud. This exercise is great to do on a walk. If you're wearing headphones, people will simply think you're having a conversation with someone else. Alternatively, try this as a writing exercise.
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As you listen to the music, begin your conversation with the opening question: "So [insert your name] what do you want to talk about today?"
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Respond in whatever way you want to in that moment. Don't over think, rehearse or perform. Remember you are the only audience. You're simply curious to see where you might go.
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Allow yourself to meander, fall silent, drift off. However, like a good interviewer, gently draw yourself back to your thought with questions like:
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Tell me more about that
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Why do think that interests you or bothers you?
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Describe that in more detail for me
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What else would you like to talk about?
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Be kind. Imagine yourself a gentle and curious interviewer - more Tippett than Paxman.
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Try to go the full 22 mins. Sometimes the best thoughts come when we're beginning to grow tired or a little bored.
Listening to Myself
22 min audio work
Voice by Gaylene Gould
Soundscape by ANNN
And here's one we made earlier.....
Listening to Myself is Gaylene's unedited stream of consciousness set to ANNN's soundscape. This is an example of the paths our minds take if we let it roam. It's also an example of how we each inhabit multiple internal and external voices and the desire we might have to connect meaningfully with ourselves and others.
Let this inspire you to let your own internal voice go on a walkabout.
Send us a snippet of your conversation and be part of a collective audio work
Here at The Space To Come we like to be in conversation with you, to co-create so we can hear what we sound like together.
We'd like to experiment with creating a new audio work from your voices. If you would like your voice included, send us an audio snippet of the conversation you had with yourself while listening to the soundscape Listening to Yourself. This could be:
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a quick recap of the conversation you had
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anything surprising that you discovered
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questions you might have asked yourself
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a reflection of how you found the experience
You can record and send a voice note on most smart phones using the Voice Memo app on iPhone or equivalent on Android. Record no more than 2 minutes.
Email your voice to listening@thespacetocome.com
by April 30th 2021
We can't guarantee we'll be able to include all your voices or that we'll be able to create a new work if we don't receive enough, but we're curious to see what happens...
Thankyou
- Gaylene and ANNN -
The Collaborators
ANNN is an exploratory sonic spatial platform created by architect and synthesist
Gianmaria Givanni