Augmented Aurality (2020)

for two performers, laptop, percussion, objects, transducers, and 8-channel fixed media

Jointly created and performed by William Kuo and Karen Yu, Augmented Aurality is a collaborative work consisting of improvisation and a two-part audio documentary.

Conceived for two performers, laptop, percussion, objects, transducers, and 8-channel fixed media, it contemplates the impacts of the MYO7A genetic mutation on human hearing and hopes to induce heightened sensitivity towards the power imbalance that threatens civil liberty through an investigation on the act of listening.

Listening originates in utero, where the sensing self (the fetus) in its own body listens to the sounds of another body like its own: the self hearing itself from within. Even upon exiting the womb of the mother, the sensing self continues listening through the internal cavity of the skull. As human beings, we hear our own breathing. We hear the rhythms of the organs inside our bodies. We hear ourselves speak. 

This work engages the listener inwardly, before turning outwardly to engage entire bodies of listeners. How does listening help to transform oneself and to forge meaningful connections with others?