When everyone can make themselves heard, who cares to listen? How can we learn to pay attention without simply waiting for our turn to speak? What does it truly mean to be a good listener?
Miriam Rasch (writer and coordinator of the Research Station) presents her research and book about the ethics of listening. Listening was published by Columbia University Press in September 2026. It offers a philosophical and personal exploration of the ethics of listening, understanding it not as a passive act but as a relationship between the self and the world. This relationship is always mediated – by technologies such as algorithms and social media, by techniques like dialogue and attention, and by our bodies and surroundings.
In her writings, Miriam combines philosophy of technology, ethics, and aesthetics with examples from film, literature, and art as well as reflections on listening as an everyday practice. Listening is understood as an act of generosity – an active and open-ended process that unites giving and receiving.
Be welcome to join the conversation and explore the ethics of listening together with Miriam Rasch and Martina Raponi at this Research in Perspective event organised in collaboration with the minor Sonic Cultures.
Bio
Miriam Rasch is Coordinator of the WdKA Research Station and Research Centre and a writer, philosopher, and researcher. She studied Literary Theory and Philosophy, specialising in Ethics. She writes essays about life in post-digital times, with a focus on philosophy of technology, ethics, and literature. She’s also a critic and columnist publishing at various media outlets. Her latest book is Luisteroefeningen: Over aandacht en ontvankelijkheid (De Bezige Bij, 2024), about an ethics of listening for polarised times. An English edition called Listening was published by Columbia University Press, September 2026.
*Research in Perspective hosts conversations about research in practice at the WdKA-Piet Zwart Institute. It is a forum for connecting, sharing information and insights, and acknowledging, questioning, and honoring the diversity of approaches, methods, and practices involved in the research we undertake. Research in Perspective invites guests and welcomes proposals for sessions. Convened by Miriam Rasch, Vivian Sky Rehberg and Renée Turner, coordinated via the Research Station and Research Center.
