THE ARTS | Listening Biennial 2023 presents Listening Tambayan

The Listening Biennial 2023 presents Listening Tambayan, a program inviting different practitioners and audiences to gather and listen collectively. Anchored on the Filipino term tambayan or hang-out, and the Biennial’s emphasis on community and connection, the 15- to 40-minute live sessions may contain music, soundscape recording, narration or storytelling, news, among others.

The program will feature resource persons from different sectors and with different projects related to listening, sounding, musicking, and other related acts. Episodes will involve two types: live performances and pre-recorded thematic playlist listening sessions. Each Tambayan will be recorded live with a small audience at the College of Mass Communications Auditorium and live streamed through DZUP’s Facebook and Youtube. There will also be subsequent broadcasts through DZUP, the official AM radio station of the University of the Philippines.

The Listening Tambayan schedule is as follows: July 10, 11, and 12, with morning (9 AM-12PM) and afternoon sessions (2-5PM), each anchored on a different theme.

The theme for Episode 1 is Listening in/to art in/and/with technology with Dr. Diego Maranan (onsite), The Observatory (online, Singapore) and Gary Warner (online, Sydney). Episode 2 will be on Listening to memories with James Olaivar for HRVVMC (Tao sa Tao), AARPS, and Dr. Verne dela Pena (UPCE) all onsite.

On July 11, Episode 3 sessions on Listening for/to music will feature Ramon Santos onsite, with online participation from Kuala Lumpur by Muhammad Tamim Faruq Bin Khairul ‘Azmi, Dzulhafidz Dzulffi, Zaini Bin, and Kamarol Zaman. Also joining online from Bangkok are Kitiphan Janbuala and Siwanut Boonsripornchai, and Poumpak Charuprakorn and Saranrat Sangchai. On the same day, Episode 4 will have DOT ASMR Project (Howie Uyking, Erwin Romulo, and Noel de Brakinghe) and Robin Rivera onsite, to be joined online by John Kannenberg (Museum of Portable Sound, Portsmouth), on the theme of Listening to a record.

On July 12, Episode 5’s Listening to noise/silence will have Dr. Wallraf (Hamburg) and Hasan Hujairi [noise/silence] (Sharjah/Bahrain) both onsite, with Kevin Murray (Silence from Southern Perspective, Melbourne) joining online. Episode 6 will focus on Listening for/to a community with Dr. Maria Christine Muyco/BAYI (Music for 1000 Bicycles) and the ’90s alternative music scene X experimental cinema of Children of Cathode Ray both onsite, and with online participation from TheCube Project Space (Taipei).

All sessions (except for Episode 3) will have discussions, moderated by Pat Carranza, after the playlists are shared.

A seventh episode will take place as the World Listening Day: neverending gig on July 18 at the University Hotel within the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. With over 60 performances, the event is set to start from noon and end at midnight.

As the eighth and final episode, The Listening Biennial will also participate in an adjacent workshop on August 4-10, 2023, titled Bauhaus.Listening.Workshop in Sagada, Mt. Province, organized by Nathalie Singer and meLe Yamomo, supported by Goethe Institut Philippines and Frederike Moorman. A tambayan titled Bauhaus.Listening.Workshop #2 Sagada/Manila ECHO will be held at the University of the Philippines Fine Arts Gallery on August 11 at 1PM onwards.

All events will be broadcast by DZUP on a later date (TBA). Interested parties may email dayang.folio@gmail.com

SYMPOSIUM

The symposium of The Listening Biennial 2023 is a series of talks expounding on this edition’s theme Listening to/as connection.

The academic studies and creative practices to be presented will also expound on the Biennial’s central conversation point Listening as a political act, as well as the themes Listening (as/to) science and Listening (as/to) art as two main fields where the act of listening is understood.

The symposium will be held across three Universities, with the first sessions to be hosted by Silpakorn University in Bangkok on July 21 and 22. Curator for the Listening Biennial’s first edition, Dr. Yang Yeung, will be its keynote speaker, joined by Dr. Toeingam Guptabutra (Bangkok), Dr. Poumpak Charuprakorn & Kulis Boonyason, Sorayit Aiemueayut& Saranat Sangchai (Bangkok), Dr. David Wallraf (Hamburg), Dr. Dayang Yraola (Philippines), Nguyen Trinh Thi (Vietnam).

The second leg will be hosted by Malaysia Multimedia University in Cyberjaya on July 29, to be introduced by Dr. Dayang Yraola, and with presentations by Dr. David Wallraf,
Dr. Lim Kok Yoong, Dr. Kamal Sabran, Mustaffa Ahmad Hidzir & U-Wei, Yuvaraj Kaliaperumal, Syabil Syamin, Azman Zulfiply, Ts. Shafeeq Jibin & Suzy Sulaiman. Moderated by Dr. Roopesh Sitharan and Muhammad Tamim Faruq.

The Manila symposium will be held at the Atrium of the University of the Philippines Fine Arts Gallery on August 2, Wednesday, from 1-6 PM. There will be a simultaneous broadcast on DZUP, the official AM radio station of the University of the Philippines.

Keynote speaker for the session is The Listening Biennial artistic director Dr. Brandon LaBelle. They will be joined by presenters Dr. Yang Yeung (curator, Listening Biennial 1st Edition), Dr. Dayang Yraola (curator, Listening Biennial 2nd Edition), Dr. Jocelyn Guadalupe (College Secretary, University of the Philippines College of Music), and Dr. Giovanni Tapang (Dean, University of the Philippines College of Science), with Dr. Maria Patricia Silvestre as moderator.

Launch is open to the public. Pre-registration is requested through cfagallery.upd@up.edu.ph.

SOUND CAMP

Part of The Listening Biennial 2023 Asia program is a three-day Sound Camp hosted by the Alitaptap Artists Community in Brgy. Halang, Cavite, Philippines. From July 14 to 16, participants will engage in sound walks, sound compositions, and (performance) listening in rural and/or city settings within the locale.

The Camp will be facilitated by Hamburg-based noise artist, researcher, and theorist Dr. David Walraff, and moderated by artists Erick Calilan and Jett Ilagan. Participants may be artists, students, and other practitioners.

A culminating performance will take place on July 16 at 12 NN to 3PM.

The Sound Camp is by invitation only. Interested observers may email dayang.folio@gmail.com.

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