Score for a (local) practice

Score for a (local) practice: workshop and listening session (2025)
Rabt, Tehran

developed as part of The Listening Biennial 2025, On Third Listening 

This workshop centers around a shared score, which will be introduced as a starting point for collective engagement. The score will be activated during an on-site workshop at Rabt space, Tehran, on September 10, and shared with the Listening Biennial community, inviting participants to engage with it within their own localities. Through this process, participants may contribute recordings, texts, or other materials, which will then be gathered and shared during an online and on-site session on September 16.

The first part of the workshop is rooted in the score, which serves as an invitation for a sound walk within our local environments. It is created for the setting in which Rabt is currently hosted, and also extends as an invitation to other spaces engaged with Third Listening as the central concept of the Listening Biennial. Each site can become a setting for local reflection, gathering experiences to be shared during the second stage of the workshop, which will take place both online and on-site.

Participants are invited to relate to their surroundings individually, as part of a collective practice shaped by the workshop score. The score opens possibilities for us to connect with and witness the sonic borders and the complexity they hold, while attuning to our environment and to one another. It emphasizes the importance of listening critically to the locality that surrounds and shapes us, and how we, in turn, shape it. This process may involve recording sounds, sonic interventions, or engaging in movements that draw attention to the complexities of our shared surroundings.

In these times, as our bodies and communities are directly or indirectly affected by the echoes of war and violence, sharing our experiences becomes an opportunity for collective reflection. We consider how we are listening to the urgencies that each locality holds, and how we can approach and hold this complexity together.

For the second part of the workshop, we will gather on September 16, both online and on-site in Tehran. Contributions of sonic material created through engagement with the score are welcome and may be submitted before the session to be included in a collective sonic mix. You are welcome to join the listening session, either in Tehran or online, and take part in the conversation.

Facilitated by Golnoosh Heshmati, Sohrab Kashani, Maryam Katan, Shaahin Peymani
On-site events at Rabt space (hosted by Tehran Limits)

Final Audio Mix:

Score for a (local) practice

Collective audio mix, 10 min 37 seconds

Field recordings by: Golbarg Barzin, Anahita Farshchi, Ermia Heydari, Golnoosh Heshmati, Reyhane Iranmanesh, Maryam Katan, Shaahin Peymani

Mixed by Golnoosh Heshmati