In this artist talk and workshop, we will explore how different approaches to sound and listening can open spaces for imagining alternative possibilities. We will examine how speculative approaches to sound and listening can develop different perspectives on social and environmental relations. 

Speculative approaches, long utilised by artists, designers, writers, and thinkers, challenge current norms by reimagining potential futures, histories, and scenarios. These approaches often question conventional structures or concepts such as time, gender, and kinship, to reveal hidden assumptions and explore new paradigms. We will investigate how margins, both literal and metaphorical, serve as sites of creative and political potential, and how speculative listening from the margins can reimagine historical realities and current conditions.

Led by Amias Hanley, this workshop highlights the significance of speculative practices for marginalised groups, particularly LGBTQIA+ artists, writers, and thinkers. Amias will share insights and examples from their sound art, discussing how sound and listening have been important tools in their work as a queer and gender non-conforming artist.

Participants will engage in collective modes of learning through listening, reading, writing, speaking, and sounding, exploring how sound and listening, as forms of attention and agency, can reveal expanded possibilities. We will reflect on how our lived experiences shape our auditory perceptions and examine how environments, media, and communities influence our sonic sensibilities.

No previous experience is required. This workshop suits anyone interested in sound, listening, experimentation, and critical thinking. Please bring a pencil/pen and paper.