Outsiders: System Failure - Erotics of Listening

System Failure Electroacoustic Spiritual Jazz Experimental Spoken Word

System Failure opens 2026 with an experimental cosmic trip into the Erotics of Listening, weaving sound, experimentation and writing by ‘mothers’ Alice Coltrane, Pauline Oliveros, Beatriz Ferreyra, Limpe Fuchs, Clarice Lispector and Audre Lorde, alongside recent works by Amma Ateria, Alexandra Spence, Ana Maria Romano G., Tot Onyx, Manja Ristić, Joana Guerra and Verónica Cerrotta.

Drawing from Audre Lorde’s The Uses of the Erotic (1978), we explore listening as an embodied, relational practice—tuned to dreams, memory, joy and fear. Alice Coltrane welcomes us through her 1985 TV program Eternity’s Pillar, a transcendental broadcast with Alice as spiritual guide. Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening closes the circle, asking: what sound gives you chills, alters your breath, ruffles your scalp?

Eternity’s Pillar- Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda (Excerpt, TV show) My favourite things - Alice Coltraine Ear Piece written by Pauline Oliveros, in Deep Listening: A composer’s sound practice (Reading) Off the Beaten Tracker - Deep Listening Band Dream Time - Deep Listening Band Ways of Listening written by Pauline Oliveros, in Deep Listening: A composer’s sound practice (Excerpt, reading) O vento retoma o seu lugar inicial - Manja Ristić, Joana Guerra & Verónica Cerrotta With Mountain - Alexandra Spence Weather Dreams written by Sisters of the Order of Celestial Nephology, in Bodies of Sound: Becoming a Feminist Ear (Reading) Mnemonics III- Pauline Oliveros Somos Nosotras - Ana Maria Romano G. Da Da Uum Da - Anima-Sound Sasshobun, Shori - Tot Onyx Anthropos - KP Transmission Ennoia-Nous -- KP Transmission Uses of the Erotic The Erotic As Power – written and read by Audre Lorde (Excerpt) Gravitations - Amma Ateria Água Viva written by Clarice Lispector (Excerpt, reading) Echos - Beatriz Ferreyra