Aura Satz: Preemptive Listening
Aura Satz, Preemptive Listening, 2024. Courtesy of the artist
Winner, New Vision Award, CPH:DOX 2024
Part essay-film, part sound experiment, Aura Satz’s electrifying Preemptive Listening is an urgent exploration of the social, political, and sonic dimensions of the siren. Tracing its evolution from shepherd’s bugle to World War II air raid alarm, Satz reflects on the siren’s omnipresence today—from warning systems for environmental and man-made disasters to symbols of aggressive policing and state control. She combines footage shot on location at alarm sites worldwide—including Fukushima, Japan; Bethlehem, Palestine; and a high school in United States—with original compositions by collaborators like musicians and sound artists Raven Chacon, Moor Mother, and Maja S. K. Ratkje. Throughout, Satz also looks ahead, asking how the siren might be reimagined to better attune us to the interconnected responsibilities of our shared future.
Featuring original compositions by:
Laurie Spiegel
Evelyn Glennie
Maja S. K. Ratkje
Anton Lukoszevieze
BJ Nilsen
Ilpo Väisänen
Rhodri Davies
Mazen Kerbaj
FUJ||||||||||TA
Sarah Davachi
David Toop
Christina Kubisch
Moor Mother
Raven Chacon
Elaine Mitchener
Camille Norment
Horomona Horo
Debit
Kode9
Presented in partnership with SAIC’s department of Art and Technology / Sound Practices. Additional support provided by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Followed by a conversation with Aura Satz and Lou Mallozzi, Professor of Art and Technology / Sound Practices at SAIC.
2024, United Kingdom, Finland
Format: Digital
In English with English subtitles
89 minutes followed by discussion
ABOUT
Aura Satz is a Barcelona-born, London-based artist based who works with film, sound, performance, and sculpture. Her works explore a distributed, expanded, and shared notion of voice and are made in conversation, using dialogue as both method and subject matter. Satz has performed, exhibited, and screened her work internationally, including at the Tate Modern; BFI Southbank; Hayward Gallery; Sydney Biennale; NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo; High Line Art New York; Rotterdam Film Festival; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Sharjah Art Foundation; KADIST, San Francisco; Onassis Stegi; and Sonic Acts. She has presented solo exhibitions at the Wellcome Collection, the Hayward Gallery project space, John Hansard Gallery, George Eastman Museum, Dallas Contemporary, ARTIUM Museoa, and Kunstnernes Hus, as well as special screening programmes at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, Tate Britain, Whitechapel Gallery, and more. Her films are distributed by LUX.
ACCESSIBILITY
Conversations at the Edge events have live captions (CART). The Gene Siskel Film Center is fully ADA accessible and its theaters are equipped with hearing loops. For other accessibility requests, please visit saic.edu/access or write cate@saic.edu
TICKETS
$13 General public
$8 Students & seniors
$6.50 Film Center members
$5 SAIC staff & faculty & AIC staff
FREE for SAIC students with a valid ID
All CATE programs are free for SAIC students. Unless otherwise noted, SAIC student tickets are released five days prior to showtime. Tickets must be picked up in person from the Gene Siskel Film Center box office. A student ID is required.
RESOURCE GUIDES
Conversations at the Edge’s resource guides contain articles, interviews, and other material related to upcoming artists and events. Available here.