CO-LISTENING. Sound Practices and Processes of Repair from the Indian Subcontinent

Talk by Francesca Ceccherini (Milan, Italy).

CO-LISTENING. Sound Practices and Processes of Repair from the Indian Subcontinent is a curatorial research project by curator Francesca Ceccherini exploring the relationship between sonic practices and rituals of repair from a situated perspective, activating listening as a methodology for co-creation and attunement. Moving beyond repair as mere physical mending, the project engages it as a set of actions and creative gestures that address internal wounds, opening spaces to question, rewrite, and re-signify traumatic memories through sonic languages. Presented as a listening lecture, the research traces key moments, listening circles, and reflections, bringing together works by artists such as Indu Antony, Kaur Chimuk, Shilpa Gupta, and Zhara Malkani. Engaging with the notion of “critical co-listening,” as proposed by Budhaditya Chattopadhyay (2022), the project positions listening as a possible path of knowledge in light of recent decolonial theories and, simultaneously, as a radical form of care and resistance to dominant power structures.

This project is granted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture under the Italian Council program (2025) and supported by several cultural partners, including MAP Museum (IND), KHOJ International Artists’ Association (IND), The Listening Biennial (INT), Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen (CH), Haus der Kunst (DE), La Pop (FR), CRISAP – Creative Research into Sound Art Practice (UK), and Sound Studies Lab (DK).