Ahead of the second Around Sound Festival and Retreat, Caroline Chen learns a thing or two about listening.

When was the last time you took off your headphones, stopped, and really listened to the city around you? This summer, give it a try at the Around Sound Art Festival and Retreat, organised by soundpocket, a charity dedicated to the promotion, research and education of ‘sound art’.

But, first things first, what does the term mean? “We’re not sure what exactly it is,” laughs independent writer and lecturer Yeung Yang, founder of soundpocket and co-curator of the programme along with Susie Law – the same organising duo who brought about last year’s October Contemporary festival. Yeung explains that to define sound art rigidly would be to exclude art and artists who do not formally or exclusively deal with sound. “It is about sound in art, and sound as art.”

By “sound in art”, she believes that all disciplines of arts – music, dance, drama or theatre – can be used to explore sound. “We even interview people like civil engineers, who work with sound as a strategy for exploring what lies underground,” she says. “We believe that this kind of practice can be inspiring for people who work in art.” The other half, “sound as art”, reflects Yang’s belief that careful listening is an activity that needs to be deliberately pursued – and is too often neglected. “We believe that listening can be an activity that can be a very deep experience,” says Yang.

The Around Sound Art Festival and Retreat offers a unique opportunity to make time for listening. It starts with a two-day retreat at the Jockey Club Mt. Davis Youth Hostel, led by pioneering Taiwanese sound artist Dajuin Yao and described in the pamphlet as “a weekend of doing nothing but listening”. Among the activities planned for the retreat are “sound walks”, a Make Your Own Mic workshop, and a roundtable discussion on “Why is Hong Kong so noisy?”

The festival will then last for three weeks, with a smorgasbord of concerts, installations, performances and talks. The artists hail from as far away as the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia, but the majority are local artists. In the same way that Yeung refuses to strictly define sound art, she also did not solely invite individuals who are identified as sound artists. Instead, she picked artists whose works “compel us to return to listening.”

Among the many festival events is an installation by Joe Chan, a ceramic sculptor and installation artist. Displayed at the rooftop of popular arts cluster, Foo Tak Building, his Jing Ting, which transliterates as Quiet Listening, is a fan of ceramic pipes that hang suspended over a chair. When it rains, one can sit under the pipes and listen to the amplified sound of the raindrops. “When I was a kid, I lived in a house with a tin roof,” says Chan, explaining his inspiration. “I used to listen to the rain going ding dong dong ding dong dong… In Hong Kong it is very noisy, life is very fast and very busy. People long for something basic and simple. That’s what my work will try to give them.”

Sound Tree is another installation that will feature in the festival. Hong Kong artist Jaffa Lam created the bronze sculpture last May, erecting it in the backyard of an old Chinese building in Central that is soon to be demolished as part of an urban redevelopment plan. The tree, which is made up of various horns, amplifies the sounds of the old building and its inhabitants going about their everyday lives.

For the festival, Lam will be collaborating with another Hong Kong-based artist, Cedric Maridet, who has made recordings of Sound Tree in different weather conditions, then used the recordings to compose different soundscapes. Lam also hopes that the work can increase awareness about the lifestyles of the older residents who are about to be displaced. “My work is also documenting society,” she says. “I’ve met the people living upstairs in the building and I’ve heard their stories. So for the seminar I will share their stories. Their regular lives are totally different from ours.”

Besides the installation, other intriguing events include concerts of “small music” by Japanese artist Miki Yui and German composer Rolf Julius, and a “sleep/dream listening” led by Dajuin Yao. Above all, the festival aims to create time and space for people to slow down. “People are too busy and maybe they need to be quiet for a moment to think about their lives,” says Lam. Amid the frenzy and rush of the city, this unique festival promises to be an oasis of peace.

Around Sound Art Festival runs from Aug 20-Sep 9 with a series of exhibitions, performances, talks and a book launch. The Retreat takes place at the Jockey Club Mt. Davis Youth Hostel on Aug 21 & 22. For full programme details, visit www.soundpocket.org.hk.