Listening Furniture (work in progress) by Alberto Ruiz Soler and Charlotte Spencer
Imagined and devised by sound artist, Alberto Ruiz Soler in collaboration with choreographer, Charlotte Spencer.
Listening Furniture is an immersive sonic experience. It arises from the desire of making a reflective space where sound can be felt as well as heard by exploring listening that is not limited to the ears, but also the rest of the body. Listening Furniture defends the need to rest, reset your body, and take time-out.
An array of surface speakers are embedded into a purpose-built sculpture made from wood with a soft surface. These speakers translate sound into vibrations. You might lie down, sit at the edge, place your hand on it, or simply observe. You can experience it alone or with a friend. The full haptic-sonic experience is only available through direct bodily contact.
Inspired by magical realism, where ordinary objects possess strange capacities, Listening Furniture treats the object as a threshold, an entry point into another layer of reality or an inner realm. For some, it feels like sinking. For others, like floating. This work isn’t about finding answers; it is about your attention, your body and whatever you carry quietly within yourself. It mirrors the shape of memory: shifting, sensory, and sometimes difficult to name.
Practical information
This installation is free, but you need to book a ticket.
There are 3 tickets per 30min slot, and the slots are as follows:
Sat 21 March
2-2.30pm
2.30-3pm
3-3.30pm
3.30-4pm
4-4.30pm
4.30-5pm
5-5.30pm
5.30-6pm
6-6.30pm
6.30-7pm
Sun 22 March
11-11.30am
11.30-12noon
12-12.30pm
12.30-1pm
3-3.30pm
3.30-4pm
4-4.30pm
4.30-5pm
There are 3 x tickets for each time slot.
Each ticket can be occupied by 1 or 2 people. If you come with a friend or partner and you want to experience the piece together, you only need to book one space.
If you come together and want to experience it individually, then book one space each. We may be able to accommodate walk-ups on the day. This is not guaranteed, but we’ll do our best to squeeze you in.
Accessibility
Listening Furniture is designed with sensory inclusivity at its core. It provides a meaningful experience for blind and visually impaired audiences through vibration, touch, and spatial listening accompanied by an audio introduction. For specific information about access, please contact the venue or let yourself be known at the reception desk upon arrival.
Artist Bios
Alberto Ruiz Soler is a sound artist and composer. They are interested in how people perceive and relate to sound (mostly noise and non-musical sounds) and how people categorise their sonic environment (music/ voice/noise…). They construct soundscapes and listening spaces through contemporary dance, installations and generative art. Their sonic experiences invite the audience to listen and appreciate sounds in innovative ways to develop our understanding of and relationship with sounds.
Alberto completed a BA Hons Sound Art and Design at LCC (UAL) and an MA Information Experience Design at RCA. Alberto has collaborated with artists such as Eva Recacha, Lola Maury, Igor+Moreno, Jesús Rubio, Hetain Patel, William Fairbroher and Hannah Righman amongst others presenting their work internationally.
Charlotte Spencer is a choreographer, teacher and curator based in Brighton. Her work sits at the intersection between choreography, embodiment, public space, social justice and accessibility. Driven by urgent social and ecological questions, Charlotte creates intimate live encounters that invite audiences to slow down, notice small details and step into the present moment shared with others. Her innovative, deeply curious work returns audiences to their porous, sensorial bodies, to each other, to the beautiful materiality of the world. Charlotte’s collaborative practice often unfolds through long, immersive residencies— which have included 3000 km cycle rides and building camps in forests. Her powerful, political, responsive work makes an active invitation to audiences and collaborators to come together and participate in reimagining how we can live in times of complexity, precarity and polarisation.
Since 2007, Charlotte has made performance work with young people, older adults, community groups and professional artists. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally, often in unusual or outdoor spaces. Partners include Sadler’s Wells, Dance Umbrella, Brighton Festival, Wellcome Collection, Siobhan Davies Studios, Hauser and Wirth Somerset, Turner Contemporary and festivals in Scotland, Ireland, France and Portugal. She was a Sadler’s Wells Summer University Artist (2015–18) and received a Bonnie Bird Choreographic Development Award in 2020. Charlotte trained at London Contemporary Dance School. She lives in Brighton and has two children.
Photo: William Fairbrother