WATCH: Introducing Dark Listening, a participatory art-based research method to transform cultures of listening in crisis - Dr Johanna Motzkau

Dr Johanna Motzkau hosted an OPRC Public Lecture on dark listening, drawing on her research project Cultures of Listening in Crisis: enhancing professional listening to adults and children in situations of need/risk.

During the session, participants listened to an audio collage created from anonymised audio diaries completed by social workers, reflecting on their experiences of listening and being listened to in professional practice. The lecture invited attendees to reflect on their own listening — to “listen darkly” — and to consider what they do with what they hear.

The method of dark listening (Motzkau, under review) was developed to explore the permanent crisis in UK child protection practice, with troubled listening spots suggesting that this is, in part, a crisis of listening (Motzkau & Lee, 2022).

Watch the recording via YouTube