Ears to the Ground (2025) is a public installation in the intersection between sculpture, sound and choreography that invites visitors to explore the blurred boundaries between audience, performer, and environment.

An 8-meter-long bench of sound and carved wood invites movement, touch and collective experience , transforming passersbies into co-creators of a sensory landscape. Low-frequency tones, tactile feedback, vibrations and soft surfaces encourage listening and reflection, expanding the power of perception. Through that, the piece asks: How might we sense the inaudible scale of the world? How can collective presence reshape public space into a site of active and empthatic listening?

Ears to the Grounds stems from an urge to explore a collective artistic practice as a response to an emerging new reality. Developed at OPI Lab/ Royal Institute of Art Sthlm by spatial practitioners Nina Nowak (visual artist), Liene Jakobsone (policy maker), Eftychios Savvidis (architect), and Anna Öberg (choreographer), the project seeks to transform urban settings into immersive sites of collective sense-making.

CREDITS

CONCEPT AND CRAFT Anna Öberg (SE), Liene Jacobsen (LV), Nina Novak (PL/DE), Eftychicos Savvidis (GR/CY)
EXTERNAL COLLABORATOR SOUND Johannes Burström (SE)
PHOTOS Eftychicos Saviddis and Documentationworks
SUPPORTED BY Royal Institute of Art/ OPI Lab Stockholm