Teaching

Through this overall positional framework, I want students and/or future researchers to make audible the effects of the social, historical and capital on our aural culture; to recognise the emergence of discursive patterns and/or art-world trends; to locate knowledge production as partial and located; to understand the responsibility of intellectual labour in regards to representation and representativity; to listen to the listening subject in regards to the phenomenal, but also race, gender and other non-normative/non-human entities; to hear unheard stories and/or voices. Also, I strongly believe that the discussion of these themes furthers fundamental skills as a professional working outside of academia, such as: independent research and market trend awareness; problem-solving skills; writing funding applications; aptitude for life-long learning of new techniques/technologies in sound; production and policy-making; and interdisciplinary team-work.

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The classroom is a laboratory towards the investigation of these issues: a stimulating space for the discussion of individual and collective experience of the sonic; a framework for individual and collaborative work; a workshop for the acquirement of technical skills; a testing ground for creative work and critical work. Thus, my approach to teaching is heavily influenced by the writings of post-colonial pedagogue and thinker Paulo Freire, in particular his description of how classroom activities should be guided by an interactive, conversational and participatory framework. This has led me to plan my teaching activities around group and individual activities, such as reading and writing assignments; fieldwork, such as sound-walks and exhibition visits; organization of artist/researcher talks and workshops; and tutoring of art projects. Thus, my evaluation process gives equal importance to participation in class (understood here as not only public speaking, but also involvement in things such as class mailing lists; proposal of relevant bibliography, themes or artworks and proposal of field work activities) as well as other more traditional outputs such as the creation of an artwork and/or essay.

 

I know if a student has learned something, if he/she is able to formulate a specific question, put it through a process of contextualization/critical discourse and offer a new set of questions/solutions, listening standpoint and/or creative process-techniques. The classroom is an exciting creative and critical ground, from which a lecturer has the unique opportunity and privilege to discover new research avenues or improve his/her current work: to effectually keep one’s ear to the ground. My door is open for conversations, discussions and collaborations. This is why the responsibility and possibilities that teaching incurs is a passion for me.