Sonic Stories with Ain Bailey
Limited to 12 participants, please register by Wednesday 26th June: email [email protected]
Join artist, composer and DJ Ain Bailey in a four hour deep listening session. This workshop will explore the role that sound plays in our identity formation using the term ‘sonic autobiography'.
Ain Bailey will facilitate a listening session as part of her ongoing project ‘Sonic Stories’ exploring the concept of ‘sonic autobiography’ that connects memory to music. This event will utilise listening to investigate sound’s relationship to collective memory and identity formation in our social, emotional, and political lives.
What are the three sounds that have a particular resonance for you? Perhaps it’s the sound of a creaking door in the house of a beloved family member; the call to prayer from a mosque in your neighbourhood; the song or piece of music that reminds you of your first love/crush/attraction, or the soundtrack in a club that feels like home.
To participate in the session, you will need to bring three sounds that hold personal significance or interest from your life. These sounds will be shared with the group during a facilitated session led by Bailey. Each participant will be asked to consider and reflect on their choices.
A meal will be provided during the session. The event takes place in Cell Project Space's first floor exhibition space, accessible via a wheelchair lift. For full details about access follow the link HERE. If you would like to discuss your access needs please contact Annabelle Mödlinger: annabelle [at] cellprojects [dot] org.
Ain Bailey is an artist, composer and DJ. She facilitates workshops considering the role of sound in the formation of identity, and the exploration of memory and sound. Recent exhibitions include ‘And We’ll Always Be A Disco In The Glow Of Love’, Cubitt Gallery, London (2019); ‘Version’, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2021); ‘Atlantic Railton’ which was part of the ‘Listening To The City’ sound installation programme in the 2021 Serpentine Pavilion; ‘Untitled: Our Wedding’ for the ‘Black Melancholia’ exhibition at CCS Bard (2022), New York, USA and ‘Trioesque’ for Bruckenmusik 27 in Cologne, Germany,(2022). In 2020 Bailey and Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski created a composition and print entitled ‘Remember To Exhale’ for Studio Voltaire, London. She was the 2022-23 Cavendish Arts Science Fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge. In 2023, Bailey was commissioned by FACT Liverpool for the ‘Resolution’ research project, which resulted in the exhibition ‘Four’ (2024). The exhibition is a response to time spent working with incarcerated men and their families on the subject of sound and memory.
Sound Method is the final part of a larger public programme, Permit To Dream, curated by Cell Project Space Fellows, Michelle Lee Johnson, Khadija Niang, and Chinaza Ruth Okonkwo. Each event unpacks and activates a range of senses; touch, sight, and listening, initiated as a response to ‘Capital’, solo exhibition by Coumba Samba.
