Transatlantic Sounds: Are We Listening To?

Ana Bravo Pérez, Jorge Gómez & Tomás Espinosa

Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin — 2022

Sound concept, sound design & custom audio system development — Juan Orozco

Transatlantic Sounds: Are We Listening To? is a lecture-performance presented at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, developed by Ana Bravo Pérez, Jorge Gómez and Tomás Espinosa in collaboration with the Pilón Cultural Association and Juan Orozco.

The work critically examines the relationships between colonial histories, the circulation of knowledge and the politics of listening. Questioning how institutional and curatorial frameworks can reproduce extractive structures, the performance asks whose voices are amplified, whose experiences remain unheard and what it means to listen beyond Eurocentric narratives.

Juan Orozco developed the sound concept and sound design for the performance, approaching the listening environment as a sonic territory constructed through the interaction of voices, music, audiences, reproduction systems, objects and physical materials.

In collaboration with Pascale Espinosa, he developed a custom DIY sound system combining experimental electronics and ceramic sound devices. Rather than relying exclusively on conventional loudspeakers, the system explored alternative forms of amplification and material resonance, allowing sound to emerge through physical objects.

The development of these devices was integral to the conceptual approach of the work. Questions of amplification, spatial distribution, proximity, visibility and silence became part of the performance itself, challenging the apparent neutrality of sound technologies and the ways in which they shape what can be heard.

A central aspect of the proposal was the idea of sound that does not depend on loudness, but requires the active presence of the listener. Sound that is not necessarily audible everywhere, inviting proximity, movement and attention.

The original sound proposal also explored the possibilities of analogue audio tapes and the activation of recorded memories through materials such as water, ceramics and wood, connecting sound reproduction with oral transmission, ancestral knowledge and material resonance.

Through these approaches, listening becomes more than a perceptual activity: it becomes a situated, relational and political practice, opening questions about the transmission of knowledge and the possibility of constructing new sonic territories.

Credits

Lecture-performance
Ana Bravo Pérez, Jorge Gómez & Tomás Espinosa

Sound concept & sound design
Juan Orozco

Custom audio system development
Juan Orozco

Experimental electronics & ceramic sound devices
Developed in collaboration with Pascale Espinosa

In collaboration with
Pilón Cultural Association

Venue
Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, Germany

Date
September 14, 2022

Format
Lecture-performance / Sound intervention