Workshops [CANCELLED due to unforeseen circumstances] :
Session One 10 October 2026 Saturday 2pm
Session Two 10 October 5pm
Session Three 11 October Sunday 2pm
Session Four 11 October 5pm
£12 | 8 places per session | Please email divfuse@gmail.com for tickets
* £10 for students/unwaged
This workshop gives participants the chance to explore sounds of their own body from a point of curiosity rather than judgement. Tracing the history of auscultation, we’ll look at how medical tools have physically distanced patients from doctors and question our societal reactions to bodily noise. Using stethoscope microphones, pinard horns and other hand held tools the group will look at sounding together, building a trusting relationship with their own body and with others.
The workshop will be comprised of:
– An introduction to Body/Gut Listening, history of auscultation, gastromancy and attitudes towards the body over the centuries
– Participatory exercise using bespoke postcards challenging ideas towards the body
– Listening to the body (the self or others) with bespoke sculptures and microphones
– Sounding together in chorus
– Q&A
Duration: around 1.5 hours
Participants have the option of using stethoscope microphones which will amplify the sound from the body for everyone to hear. There is no pressure to do so, as we will have hand held acoustic versions as well as ambient microphones if you would rather not place instruments directly onto your skin. There are an infinite amount of interesting points to listen to on and with the human body. These include chest, joints, stomach and eyelids but we will encourage you to investigate others, including sounds you can make with movement (footsteps), body percussion and with breath which do not require use of an amplified microphone.
For any questions please feel free to email Joanna beforehand on pensostudio@gmail.com
Joanna Penso is a Yorkshire artist based in London. Her work centres sounds of the body and Gut Listening as a vehicle to understanding oneself, one another and the environment around us. Her research paper: The Body as Site was delivered at the Centre for Research into Sound Art Practice in 2024 and forms the basis of her on-going practice-based research. She previously performed Body Talks , an exploration of body amplification at DIVFUSE Sound Projects 2025 and has delivered workshops for Dorich House Museum, exhibited at Pushkin House, York Art Gallery, APT Gallery, Southwark Park Galleries and at St Ives September Fest.
