Listening Like a Tree

Listening Like a Tree

Volume 3 - Re-aliving the Commons

October 28-30 2026

Join artist Sarah Smuts-Kennedy inside the extraordinary acoustic space of Silo 6 for Listening Like a Tree - a series of six intimate two-hour sound activations marking exactly ten years since this enquiry first emerged within her practice.

These Being Withs are not performances and have no predetermined score. Working through voice, sound, listening and the extraordinary architecture of the silos, each activation is created in the moment through listening and response - an intimate leap into the unknown together. Sound making from one soul for another.

Wed 28 Oct: 10.30am-12.30pm and 7pm-9pm
Thu 29 Oct: 10.30am-12.30pm and 7pm-9pm
Fri 30 Oct: 10.30am-12.30pm and 7pm-9pm

Participant reflections

Volume 1 and 2 (February and July 2026)

“Some days extraordinary things happen... I left with a feeling of calm, interconnectedness, love, awe, gratitude and hope for this beautiful world.”

“It was sublime and profound.”

“Loved today.”

Listening Like a Tree began during Sarah’s 2016 McCahon House residency, in relationship with the surrounding kauri and in response to the trees dying from kauri dieback.

What began there has developed into a decade-long enquiry into how humans might listen and work alongside natural systems and, through relationship and attention, participate in bringing living systems back into balance. The research has moved through painting, ecology, geometry and sound.

At Silo 6, Sarah’s singing becomes another translation of the same flow she works with in painting, allowing what is sensed through listening, relationship and space to take form through sound. She is joined by long-term collaborator Raeul Pierard (cello), alongside invited sound makers, including Cheryl Farthing, as the work continues to unfold.

Together, bodies, sound and the remarkable architecture of the silos create shared fields of resonance, exploring how collective listening might support connection, nervous-system regulation and the re-aliving of the commons.

This gathering also marks an important point in the arc of Sarah’s long-term project Awake in Tree Time (2016-ongoing): ten years after McCahon House and ahead of her 2027 Caselberg Creative Connections Residency in Ōtepoti Dunedin, where the research will continue to expand towards the total solar eclipse of 22 July 2028.

The research developed through these encounters will contribute to activations across the Path of Totality, joining Australia and Aotearoa through a Sun–Moon–Earth event during the eclipse of 2028.

Come prepared to settle in

Each session is two hours. Wear warm, comfortable clothes. Silo 6 can be chilly, and bring a blanket and pillow, or anything else you need to be comfortable lying down.

Wool carpet mats are provided with support from Bremworth Carpets NZ, and chairs are available on request. Water will be available when you arrive, followed by time for quiet reflection and cacao after the sounding.

There is nothing you need to know, believe or achieve.

Come as you are, get comfortable, and listen.

Koha | Book your place in one of the six session | Places are limited

You will receive a confirmation email closer to the event with practical information to help you prepare for your visit.

This research is made possible by the Auckland Urban Development Office at Auckland Council, and our friends and family (you know who you are).