Events

In The Mushroom at the End of the World, Anna Tsing tracks the deeply entangled and “patchy” realities of planetary co-existence, arguing for the importance of noticing the “disturbed ecologies” of capitalistic ruins. For Tsing, these are cacophonous realities full of “contaminated diversity” and that require a broader imagination as to how we may cultivate ways of surviving today. As she offers, “It is in listening to that cacophony of troubled stories that we might encounter our best hopes for precarious survival.” In what ways might we listen to that cacophony of troubled stories? What do such stories reveal, and how does listening afford pathways toward precarious survival? As the cacophony seems to only expand and grow increasingly distorted within today’s troubled realities, what does cacophony itself say or mean?

Cacophony Stories invites ways of listening to cacophony, bringing attention to the troubled stories as well as the precarious methods and movements that search for ways of inhabiting disturbed ecologies and diverse social worlds. Structured around stories offered by invited guests, Cacophony Stories unfolds as an experimental workshop, where we’ll follow each story into a range of collective discussions, material modelings, and listening experiences. One story will open onto other stories, as we gather and share, threading individual concerns and practices into what Tsing emphasizes as the “encounter-based collaborations” so needed today.

Guest speakers and artists: Janine Natalya Clark, Dror Feiler, Golnoosh Heshmati, Masimba Hwati, Interspecifics, Brandon LaBelle, Okkyung Lee, Alexandra Toland.

Program 

October 1:

19:00 – 22:00

Brandon LaBelle, Opening Lecture

Dror Feiler: Performance

followed by a conversation between Brandon LaBelle & Dror Feiler

October 2:

14:00 – 18:00

Masimba Hwati: presentation & workshop

October 3:

11:00 – 13:00

Alexandra Toland: presentation

14:30 – 17:30

Interspecifics: workshop

October 4:

11:00

Open discussion: collecting reflections, posing practices

12:00 – 13:30

Janine Natalya Clark: presentation & conversation with Brandon LaBelle

14:30 – 17:30

Golnoosh Heshmati: presentation & workshop

19:30

Okkyung Lee: performance