School of Listening

The exhibition “School of Listening”, curated by Havîn Al-Sîndy, Maayan Sheleff and Nora Sternfeld together with the team at ZKM will take place at the ZKM | Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe in spring 2027. It explores forms of collaboration and participation through the act of listening and thereby reacts to the seemingly increasing polarisation of public debate around the world. Cultural institutions also find themselves increasingly called upon to state their positions and to align with either one side or the other. The result is that spaces for nuance are rapidly dwindling. With the “School of Listening” the curators recommend strengthening positions that require no “either/or”, but rather offer subtle ways to listen to one another, call into question generalised views on identity and manage differences.

The exhibition consists of installations, video-, photo- and acoustic works and is accompanied by a locally based education programme with workshops, performances and conferences. The exhibition focuses on international artistic works which explore new, empathetic or performative methods of listening. The project is being organised in cooperation with international partners and, following its initial presentation in Karlsruhe, will go on tour to other countries.

Curators: Maayan Sheleff, Havîn Al-Sîndy, Nora Sternfeld, Philipp Ziegler, Mira Hirtz

Dates 

5 February 2027 – 11 July 2027: Exhibition
ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, | Karlsruhe