Listening Stones is an immersive 8 channel sound installation created in collaboration with artist Tomasz Madajczak consisting of sound recordings captured in an abandoned stone quarry in West Cork. The quarry, a site of extraction, addresses our, at once, exploitative and creative relationship with the earth. Stone is the democratic foundation of our civilisation across time, from our ancient monuments to our modern cities.
The installation will invite listeners to experience land in new acoustic ways, exploring how identities are formed in landscapes transformed by human activity. The sound score combines acoustic fragments of stone, animal, voice and the artist’s speaking in their mother tongues (Polish/Swedish/English). The score meditates on the relationships between the outer physical and inner emotional landscapes that have shaped the identities of each artist. The interplay between locations, materials, sounds and languages aims to shift the listeners focus and create experiences that transport the listener into a place of their origin, moving into a deeper awareness of our interconnectedness.