CuratorSpace Artist Bursary #23: Joanna Penso

Joanna Penso is a multi-disciplinary artist based between London and York, UK working with sound-led experiments in film, performance, radio programmes and sound installations. She has exhibited nationally, including at St Ives September Festival, Aesthetica, Southwark Park Galleries, The Lakeside Centre, and Nunnery Gallery.

"My project 'Listen In' is scheduled to be exhibited at Garage Gallery, London from 25th - 28th July 2024. The exhibition will consist of new works exploring the internal sonic landscape of the human body and the mental, physical and social benefits of inward listening. The main installation is a soundscape created with recordings of the body in movement captured with stethoscope microphones, alongside the presentation of tactile sculpture-instruments informed by medical apparatus used to listen to the body to inform a diagnosis (auscultation). Visitors will be invited to use the sculptures in practice whilst the soundscape will take them on an experiential sonic journey; careering through the digestive system, swept along by the waterways of the body and grinding through rhythmic noises of moving tendons.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an events programme, including a live sound performance of the body on the opening night, a supper club (audio recorded for Resonance.FM) where attendees will be invited to discuss attitudes towards the body during meal-sharing and a workshop where attendees will be guided through the practice of listening to the body in breath and in movement as part of a grounding and meditative practice. The project provides a multitude of ways for audiences to engage with my practice, embodying the holistic approach needed to interrogate harmful attitudes towards our own bodies and those we hold towards the bodies of others. This multimedia work aims to invoke responses to the body which oscillate between disgust and intrigue and to provide a template for a larger solo exhibition in future."

You can find out more about Joanna's work at https://www.curatorspace.com/artists/joannapenso

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