Maria Balabas

Home Is Where Listening Happens

Lecture

What does it mean to be at home? Can listening practices be connected to a broader sense of home? In this presentation, the author connects Arne Næss’s concept of ecosophy with soundwalking and the practice of connected listening as developed by Abigail Gardner, in order to propose her own interpretation of rural futurism (Leandro Pisano).

She argues that sound walks carried out with the intention of creating new connections and emotional circuits can contribute to the development of frameworks for a multilayered understanding of relationships between humans and the natural environment, thus expanding the idea of ruralism. The work explores feelings of belonging—to household, natural environment, community, person, or animals—that emerge from connected listening and soundwalking practices, and examines how these contribute to a deeper understanding of ecosophy.

Rural futurism is also addressed as a sensitive process of emotions and values reflected in sound practices.

What does it mean to be at home? Can listening practices be connected to a broader sense of home? In this presentation, the author connects Arne Næss’s concept of ecosophy with soundwalking and the practice of connected listening as developed by Abigail Gardner, in order to propose her own interpretation of rural futurism (Leandro Pisano).

She argues that sound walks carried out with the intention of creating new connections and emotional circuits can contribute to the development of frameworks for a multilayered understanding of relationships between humans and the natural environment, thus expanding the idea of ruralism. The work explores feelings of belonging—to household, natural environment, community, person, or animals—that emerge from connected listening and soundwalking practices, and examines how these contribute to a deeper understanding of ecosophy.

Rural futurism is also addressed as a sensitive process of emotions and values reflected in sound practices.

Maria Balabas

Radio producer, sound artist, and sound researcher based in Bucharest. She creates music-experimental radio programs, and her documentaries and contributions have been nominated at various international competitions. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions. She actively develops her own artistic practice and promotes soundwalking within the Romanian art scene, particularly through the project Sunete care umblă (Sounds That Walk), traveling festivals, and smaller cultural initiatives across the country.

Lecturer: Maria Balabas
Photo: Matej Tomažin

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN

no signal

no signal

A curatorial performance uses sound, poetry and text-scores to rethink “no signal” as an opening for hearing silence and the silenced differently.

Ethnography of Silence(s)

Ethnography of Silence(s)

Drawing on ethnographic research into exodus, memory and belief, the lecture examines silence through power, trauma, resistance and collective identity.

The Culture of Listening

The Culture of Listening

A conceptual walk from physics and psychoacoustics to sound ecology addresses noise, the right to silence and the social responsibility of listening.

The Slovenian Reception of John Cage – Meaningful Silence

The Slovenian Reception of John Cage – Meaningful Silence

The lecture traces the ambivalent reception of John Cage in post-war Slovenian music and his resonance in alternative and interdisciplinary practices.

Sounding in Silence: Non-verbal Sound Games in the Rhythm of Opposites and Contradictions

Sounding in Silence: Non-verbal Sound Games in the Rhythm of Opposites and Contradictions

A peripatetic lecture explores intentionality, rhythm and the paradox of experiencing sound and silence while walking.

A Venture into the Field as a Medium

A Venture into the Field as a Medium

Abandoned terrain reveals a habitat beyond human measures, through listening and walking without intent.

Terep Project

Terep Project

Terep Project explores natural and urban soundscapes through field composition, improvisation and online sound capture.

A Walk from the St. Bartholomew Canal to Canal Grando

A Walk from the St. Bartholomew Canal to Canal Grando

A guided walk through the Lera area of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park, presenting traditional salt production practices.

AudioSwarm

AudioSwarm

A listening walk inviting participants to collectively embody an insect swarm through sound.

Contemporary Saltworking

Contemporary Saltworking

Contemporary salt-making reveals seasonal labour, landscape and community through film and sound.