A treeline shivers. A stone shifts. Breath takes shape as voice to displace air. Sounds are also shapes to be known through feeling. This Tactile Listening workshop led by Ariana Martinez, Nour Yusoff, Anna RG, and the Sick Music Center shares ways of listening to, interpreting, and performing sound that move fluidly between hearing and touch. This is a hands-on workshop exploring sonic and tactile connections, moving outward from Ariana Martinez's installation, [river through wood with breath]. Using basic materials and our own imaginative sensibilities, we will listen to the sound artwork in the gallery space, interpret this experience as sculptural forms, and use those forms as “tactile scores” to prompt new sonic experiments improvised in real time. 

Participant level: This workshop is open to adults. No music, audio production, or artmaking experience necessary.

Class cost: Free with RSVP

Ariana Martinez (they/them) is a multimedia artist based in Bronx, NY and Providence, Rhode Island. Through sculpture, print, and time-based media, Martinez develops tactile language, navigational tools, and shared rituals for ecological grief and environmental repair. Ariana has produced radio artworks for broadcast around the world and is among the founding editors of Sound Fields, a new publication dedicated to audio documentary theory and practice.

Anna RG works in composition, performance, drawing and community organizing, towards possibilities of sick and disabled music making and listening. They are the founder of Sick Music Center, a project dedicated to creating space supporting communal research, study and experimentation. They were 2025 Artist-In-Residence at Issue Project Room, developing an ongoing body of work with air purifiers and scores for bed-bound performers; and is a 2026 NEW INC Member.

Nour Yusoff (they) is a Malay indigenous sound artist, musician, and liberative practitioner based in Brooklyn, NY (Lenapehoking). As a therapeutic practitioner and medical advocate, Nour’s work exists in the world of disability and sickness. A survivor of childhood ALL (acute lymphocytic leukemia), Nour explores music as a liminal space where they can creatively delve into dream, death, and grieving practices through song and movement. Each of these ways of being are connected to their ancestral roots, a traditional healing practice known as Main Puteri.

Most recently, Nour was a contributing performer for the Sick Center’s Ancestor Tribute Night at Recess Art in December 2025.

This class is part of Continuing Education, our adult education program that provides an opportunity for participants to learn from our current and alumni Artists-in-Residence and intimately engage with their work through accessible entry points.