INTIMAL: Listening for place and tele-presence. Lecture by Ximena Alarcón

Since 2017, I have been developing Interfaces for Relational Listening (INTIMAL) to support the listening for place and telepresence through improvisatory telematic sonic performances in the context of human migration. My quest for interface is sonic, digital, and cultural, to listen to and compose collectively in-between sonic spaces which respond to the nature of the migratory condition, what interfaces us within cultural and geographical differences. The interfaces support accessing what I have called Sonic Migrations: the resonances left in between the borders we cross when we tune in and meet others across distant locations. 

As my work is consolidating, through the understanding of many years of large artistic projects and the writing of scores, I have felt the urge to write a book that holds philosophically and poetically the search for interface and the collective sounding of our migrations. Being originally a deep personal search, the idea is taking shape in two possible and complementary books: INTIMAL and Sonic Migrations. One book, consolidating my technological imagination, based on what I have achieved, and envisioning new creations with technology towards future listenings. 

The second, a poetic audio handbook with exercises for improvisation that could reach any listener and specifically migrant communities, going beyond language divides, to support the transcendence of the migratory experience. In this talk, I will show drafts of these ideas, as creative layouts to possible readings of my artistic work. I would love to engage with students and general audiences in the reach that these publications might take. 

You are also welcome to register for the workshop Breathing Traces. A workshop in Sonic Migrations by Ximena Alarcón, which will takes place on 30 and 31 October 2025 at IAC. Read more about the workshop here!

Dr. Ximena Alarcón is a sound artist and researcher exploring sonic migrations – the sensory experiences of crossing borders through sound and listening. She creates telematic improvisations and interfaces for relational listening, and composes hybrid listening rituals with trained and untrained musicians.

She holds a PhD in Music Technology and is a certified Deep Listening® tutor. Her key projects include Sounding Underground, Networked Migrations, and INTIMAL, which led to the creation of the INTIMAL App© for exploring migratory journeys through sound.

Ximena teaches Deep Listening® and leads the Intimal collective, supporting Latin American migrant women in listening to their migrations and reimagining femininity, territory, and care.

Visit Ximena Alarcón artist page - ximenaalarcon.net