Listening with a River is a site-responsive practice in deep listening and mindful movement. Participants walk silently in a line, cultivating awareness of sounds near and far, of what is present and what has been erased. Inspired by Pauline Oliveros’ call to “let the bottoms of your feet become ears,” the work opens space to attune to the river and the infrastructures that shape it.

In northern Italy, rivers have long been transformed by machines: dams, canals, and turbines that redefined water as a system of production and power. From Fascist megaprojects to today’s overdrawn concessions and melting glaciers, these histories expose a shift from coexistence to control, leaving the landscape weary.

Against this backdrop, the walk becomes both ecological and political: an invitation to listen beyond extraction, to reflect on what we carry forward, and to imagine renewed forms of co-existence. At its end, participants may whisper an intention into the river’s current or carry a stone – a fragment of the mountain – as a gesture of continuity.