In June, I gave a listening workshop for Science Gallery London, on the evening of the opening of their exhibition Dark Matter. In response the intangibility of dark matter, the workshop investigated ultrasonic listening. Following a series of activations and a listening meditation, participants explored the gallery spaces by means of bat detectors. Here’s the workshop description: 

‘This session proposes to contextualise and make tangible Dark Matter’s exploration of the hidden structures of the universe by uncovering hidden elements of the immediate sonic environment. Listening Beyond the Ear is a sonic exploration of the imperceptible; a workshop in which participants listen beyond their human auditory faculty towards the usually unheard infra- and ultrasonic realms.

The human range of hearing between 20hz and 20khz is a mere fragment of the totality of the vibratory world. Even in complete silence, the listener is surrounded by noise; from low-frequency infrasonic rumblings of machinery, transport networks, industrial processes, or weather systems to the high-frequency ultrasonic buzzing of lighting fixtures, computers, medical equipment, smartphones, and wildlife.’