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Direct Bodily Empathy — Sensing Sound Book Launch

Direct Bodily Empathy — Sensing Sound Book Launch
When
Sat 10th Oct 2026 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Where
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

42 Queen Street,
New Plymouth

Cost
Free
Website
www.govettbrewster.com

Join us for an evening of lively discussion to celebrate the launch of Direct Bodily Empathy — Sensing Sound, published by Perimeter Editions, Melbourne.


Full program to be announced in mid-September


Book summary:

How can sound act as a material force of consequence in the world?

Direct Bodily Empathy — Sensing Sound is a book that explores sound as a medium, posing questions around the ways artists use deep listening — to audible currents and felt vibrations, sirens and noise — as a means of collective attunement, of knowledge building, and as a tool for critically engaging with a planet in crisis. Catalysed by the two-part exhibition curated by Anna Briers for the tenth anniversary of the Len Lye Centre, the publication takes a polyphonic approach through the connective tissue of acoustics. It places the work of Len Lye in concert with major contemporary artists from Aotearoa and abroad, pairing essays and expanded texts from leading scholars with intriguing works from the sonic field. Here, sound installations, resonant objects, graphic scores, visual music, kinetic sculptures, field recordings, experimental films, musical composition, choreography, and broader sonic artefacts echo, fracture and accord. Considering the ecological, political, technological, and sensory dimensions of sound, Direct Bodily Empathy asks: Can architecture be a musical score? Can the body be an instrument? Can colour be heard? What does a healthy ecosystem sound like? How can sound act as an indigenising gesture? What are the techno-politics of machine listening? And what sirens and warnings are needed to survive the future?

The book includes access to an audio recording of Mia Salsjö’s A Score for the Len Lye Centre performed by musicians from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.


Editor: Anna Briers
Artists: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Roy de Maistre, Andrew Faleatua, Oskar Fischinger, Simon Ingram, YoungEun Kim, Yona Lee, Len Lye, Machine Listening (Sean Dockray, James Parker, Joel Stern), Ross Manning, Yuko Mohri, Mel O’Callaghan, Mia Salsjö + the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Aura Satz, David Sequeira, Rachel Shearer, Weather Cry (Phil Dadson and James McCarthy).
Authors: Anna Briers, Len Lye, Machine Listening, Gascia Ouzounian, Aura Satz, Rachel Shearer and Janine Randerson, Lleah Smith, Mark Peter Wright.

 

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