As a part of The Unexpected City, hosted by The Centre for the Less Good Idea, the Johannesburg-based sound art collective Playgroup will facilitate a four day long creative programme from the 26th to the 29th March 2025. The title is Resonance and Rupture: Experimental Listening Exercises for Imagining the Future City.
People in and around the streets of Maboneng will be encouraged to make recordings of the neighbourhood with their phones and make an aural document of how they feel about what they hear: delight, interest, discomfort, etc. The idea is for people to explore another way of perceiving the world and to encourage the inner creativity that lies in all of us.
The project is participatory, open to the public, and has three parts. The first is making sound recordings in Maboneng, listening exercises and sonic interventions in public spaces; these will unfold and evolve over the course of the four days.The second part is a sound lab, a central space for listening, discussion, sharing, and editing of the recordings. Participants will be encouraged to curate and edit the recordings for the sound exhibition at the end of the week.
There will also be an ongoing sound exhibition with speakers in as many places as is possible.