The Response Project

“Listening is not the same as hearing and hearing is not the same as listening.” – Pauline Oliveros

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The world is only just beginning to understand the depth of influence late composer Pauline Oliveros has had on our lives and our work. Her focus on”deep listening” taught us to listen “in every possible way to every possible thing”. In particular, her 25 Sonic Meditations embodied her generous compositional spirit, offering opportunity for people of all ages and skill levels to learn “how to focus on, listen to, and produce sound naturally.”

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The Oliveros Response Project will create a community-wide artistic response to Oliveros' work. We will commission five composers and five visual artists who have been deeply influenced by Oliveros to write a new response to one of her Sonic Meditations. These works will be presented in a gallery show of visual art and a series of four short films produced by local filmmakers Biz Young, Jason Nix, and Andy Gasper. Each shot in a different historical building in Cincinnati, the films will feature a short history of the building, lots of beautiful footage of the space and the neighborhood, a deep listening meditation (lead by Troy Brosnick of The Hive), and a performance by musicians from concert:nova. We want to produce films that focus our mindful attention on historic spaces that deserve to be "listened to" more deeply. In doing so, we hope to deepen the audience's connection to their community, history, and each other. The newly commissioned musical works will be part of the final film in the series, and will be performed by Brianna Matzke, piano, and Chris Graham, percussion. In each film, viewers will be given an opportunity to reflect on and participate in the work of Oliveros. Through this project, we hope to deliberately explore the influence of Oliveros and trace her continuing connections through the musical world, ultimately expanding upon her influence to continue generating new sounds and new ideas.