ENCOUNTERS IN SOUND AND LISTENING

Catcher Media present their latest project A Kind of Hush, which took place in the centre of Hereford in November 2025. Listening activities included sound baths, a huge meditative den sculpture, ongaku kissa-style listening bar DJ sessions, oral history workshops alongside sound sculpture games and a video installation. 
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A Kind of Hush encourages conversation, relaxation, play, sanctuary and a sense of connection. We are offering a much-needed temporary disconnection from our noisy, information-overloaded, screen-based world via a series of immersive and communal listening experiences and connections with contemporary art.
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With 30 years of participatory work involving recording and listening attentively to people’s stories and experiences, Catcher Media recognise the value of these skills and want to invite people to celebrate the art of listening with. Targeted community groups were invited to closed sessions. The 2025 pilot project was funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

WHAT PEOPLE SAID ABOUT A KIND OF HUSH

“Would definitely love to see this event take place again. Brilliant, thank you all”
“Beautifully put together”
“Great slow/no-tech experience for kids and grown-ups”
“ It made me realise I need to slow down in life”
“A beautiful, magic space. Thanks for the magic of listening – what a gift”
“I felt very welcomed”
“AMAZING IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE”
“It’s so heartening to see this happening in Hereford, not just big cities. This redundant space came alive and put smiles on faces of all ages”
“Gorgeous, joyful”
“Would definitely love to see this event take place again”
“Should be a permanent fixture”
“A welcoming space to spend a few hours on a Sunday – Hereford needs more creative stuff like this”
“The sheer fun of the ping pong balls and making music with the bells”
“Thank you – opened my ears”
“Love the playful opportunities – the quiet and softness of the den, and the frustrating behaviour of the ping pong ball – wonderful”
“Video: interesting and thought-provoking”
“Soothed to the soul, relaxed to the max”
“A triumph!”

Photo Block 1: (From top left clockwise) Members of the public enjoy Bear’s bell-ringing game; facilitated discussion in Julia’s den;
active listening/oral history workshop with Rick; Bear with bell-ringers in Burghill.
Photo Block 2: Listening #1 film; HCA students interacting with Bear’s sound sculptures;
DJ Jus’ Jay takes time out with his daughter to play the bell-ringing game; Julia’s den sculpture in its full glory.
Photo Block 3: Liz’s sound bath session (with rugs courtesy of Richard Hastings); family members enjoy Julia’s den;
Jay at the ongaku kissa / listening bar session; a member of the public works on Bear’s interactive sound sculpture.

WHY A KIND OF HUSH? WHY NOW? “Active listening fosters connection, wellbeing and conflict resolution” (NHS England 2023). Hands-on, non-screen experiences benefit mental health, particularly for children and younger people, so-called ‘digital-natives’ as highlighted by UK Government (2026) and the Royal College of Paediatrics (2018) research. Visually-impaired students have found creative activities promote ‛communication skills, spatial awareness, wellbeing and a sense of empowerment’ says studies in the European Journal of Educational Research (Jan 2025) and Arts in Psychotherapy (Sept 2025).

“Listening to something is an act of surrender.”– Brian Eno
“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Many people take refuge in headphones, but they turn big, public spaces, shared soundscapes, into millions of tiny, little personal sound bubbles. In this scenario, nobody’s listening to anybody. We’re becoming impatient. We don’t want oratory anymore; we want sound bites. And the art of conversation is being replaced – dangerously, I think – by personal broadcasting. I don’t know how much listening there is in this kind of conversation, which is sadly very common, especially in the UK.

We’re becoming de-sensitized. Our media have to scream at us with these kinds of headlines in order to get our attention. And that means it’s harder for us to pay attention to the quiet, the subtle, the understated. This is a serious problem that we’re losing our listening. This is not trivial, because listening is our access to understanding. Conscious listening always creates understanding. A world where we don’t listen to each other at all is a very scary place indeed.” – Julian Treasure

Photographs by Richard Alsop, Paul Eggerton, Julia and Rick Goldsmith, Alex Hudson & Bear Kenchington