Listening as Witnessing

October 16-19, 2023 at Circuits and Currents, Athens: The Symposium explores listening as a process of witnessing with regard to traumatic, invisible or inaudible sounds, voices, (hi)stories. How is trauma acoustically represented? What does it take to make an absent sound or voice heard? What is the ethical and political positionality of listening as witnessing? And what of the unlistenable, when it becomes difficult to listen further? What kind of response and responsibilities does listening-witnessing call for? Can mutualities and networks of care develop through practices of listening in such contexts? Can listening become the point where different struggles meet? What are the intersections of listening-witnessing and art practices?

Bringing together scholars, artists, activists and re- searchers involved in a range of practices and contexts, the Symposium aims to nurture meeting points and collaborative dialogue which can contribute to new perspectives on listening as witnessing.