(for Papatūānuku)
During Lōemis Festival 2025, Berlin-based, Aotearoan artist Lou Drago hosted a new listening-occasion, (for Papatūānuku), in collaboration with local musicians Al Fraser and Erika Grant. Drago was in residency in Te Whanganui-a-Tara for a month continuing a body of research into listening to the more-than-human in the ocean and incorporating these sounds into music and this work was the first live sharing of this reseach. In addition to the unfderwater field recordings the music includes modular synthesis (Drago) gongs, Tibetan bowls, water harp (Grant) and taonga pūoro (Fraser).
Beginning with locally foraged medicianal kawakawa tea, followed by a guided meditation, the listening occasion lasted over 120 minutes, offering guests an opportunity to dive deeply into relationship with the full body as an organ for listening and invites collective dreaming and hypnagogic states. This work, (for papatūānuku) is an offering to our Earth whose abundant energy flows through all life on this planet, animating all of the miraculous creatures seen and unseen. In Drago's words, "as i listen to the spirits of the water or hear the whispers of the winds, i am reminded again of our interdependency ~ that we are made of the same matter and depend on the earth fundamentally. There is grief in it, oh there is grief in it. What we have been doing to her and what we continue to do. Yet, this is why we gather, for all of those who cannot bear the weight of that, we bear it. May we gather together, to listen deeply, with each atom of our being, to feel that interdependence and go forth with newfound clarity and compassion."
The term 'listening-occasion' refers to Drago's sonic live art practice that weaves together the lineages of Isabel Lewis who coined the term 'Occasions' — a celebratory gathering of things, people, plants, dances and scents — and Pauline Oliveros who coined the term 'deep-listening' — the conscious attention on what is being heard.
Lōemis Festival is curated by Andrew Laking and takes place annually over the Winter Solstice period. (for Papatūānuku) took place on 14 June 2025 and the Somatic Listening Workshop took place on the Winter Solstice, 21 June 2025. Many thanks to the Goethe Institute for supporting the residency.
Beginning with locally foraged medicianal kawakawa tea, followed by a guided meditation, the listening occasion lasted over 120 minutes, offering guests an opportunity to dive deeply into relationship with the full body as an organ for listening and invites collective dreaming and hypnagogic states. This work, (for papatūānuku) is an offering to our Earth whose abundant energy flows through all life on this planet, animating all of the miraculous creatures seen and unseen. In Drago's words, "as i listen to the spirits of the water or hear the whispers of the winds, i am reminded again of our interdependency ~ that we are made of the same matter and depend on the earth fundamentally. There is grief in it, oh there is grief in it. What we have been doing to her and what we continue to do. Yet, this is why we gather, for all of those who cannot bear the weight of that, we bear it. May we gather together, to listen deeply, with each atom of our being, to feel that interdependence and go forth with newfound clarity and compassion."
The term 'listening-occasion' refers to Drago's sonic live art practice that weaves together the lineages of Isabel Lewis who coined the term 'Occasions' — a celebratory gathering of things, people, plants, dances and scents — and Pauline Oliveros who coined the term 'deep-listening' — the conscious attention on what is being heard.
Lōemis Festival is curated by Andrew Laking and takes place annually over the Winter Solstice period. (for Papatūānuku) took place on 14 June 2025 and the Somatic Listening Workshop took place on the Winter Solstice, 21 June 2025. Many thanks to the Goethe Institute for supporting the residency.
