“The Listener” featured Penone’s “Idee di Pietra – Olmo” (Ideas of Stone – Elm), a nine-meter-high sculpture representing an elm tree cradling a substantial stone, evoking the fluidity and interconnectedness of life. Penone’s artwork, immersed in the Venetian Lagoon at the Gaggiandre in the Arsenale, resonated deeply with the Biennale’s theme, “How will we live together?” The tree, an emblem of wisdom and listening, symbolizes the potential of the generous listener within us all, echoing our foundation’s ethos of embracing listening as a transformative force.

Under the curation of Chus Martínez, the installation opened a global conversation about the necessity of creating spaces for listening in the 21st century. It emphasized the need for a shift from a space of seeing to a space for listening. The tree’s embodiment of nature’s consciousness and attention highlighted the dynamic of mutuality essential for a transformative process towards equality and a non-binary world.

“The Listener” was not just a static installation but an active cultural intervention. In the months following the Biennale, it was the center of various public events and performances, reflecting and expanding on the Vuslat Foundation’s research on the potential of listening for global recovery.

As a continuation of our involvement, we hosted the Generous Listening Symposium on October 30, 2021, at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale in Venice.The symposium served as a platform to delve into the idea of shifting architectural focus from sight to sound, emphasizing the need for spaces that accommodate listening., examining how architecture and space can facilitate generous listening.

The symposium featured a keynote by artist Giuseppe Penone and talks with notable figures such as Chus Martinez, Vuslat Doğan Sabancı, Francesco Bergamo, İnci Eviner, Kenann McKenzie, and Caroline Jones. These discussions aimed to define and explore the concept of listening across various fields, offering insights into how it shapes our interactions with ourselves, others, and our environment.

In conjunction with the symposium, La Biennale di Venezia and the Vuslat Foundation introduced the ‘Architecture as Generous Listening’ tour. This educational activity, designed for diverse audiences, aimed to uncover the significance of listening in architectural projects at the Biennale Architettura 2021. Addressing listening across corporeal, domestic, and communitarian dimensions, the tour highlighted listening as a crucial form of encounter.