Endless Study, Infinite Debt: Protocols for listening in (and after) social isolation

And I am also thinking of tomorrow
—Suzanne Césaire

Endless Study, Infinite Debt is an ongoing collaborative project facilitated by Snack Syndicate that brings together artists, writers, and activists to build spaces of dialogue and collective learning. Proposing the work of art as a series of continuously unfolding relationships between people, histories, systems and futures, the project aims to develop alternate spaces for the production and exchange of knowledge.

This iteration of the project, responding to Liquid Architecture’s ‘Unearthing’ prompt as well as the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, will ask how collective study is possible in a moment of isolation, physical distance, and increased surveillance. Specifically, we ask:

• What does study look like in this moment of social isolation?
• In what ways are sound, speech, and listening central to the question of study in this moment?
• How can we work towards collective modes of study (reading, writing, speaking, listening, caring) while in isolation?

We want to know how we can work towards the construction of a radical social ground for future action.

‘Protocols for Listening’ will be facilitated by Snack Syndicate and six invited collaborators—Trisha Low, Kynan Tan, Jason De Santolo, Spence Messih, Tom Melick and Chris Gaul—to create a score for study in the midst of a global pandemic that has revealed to us the catastrophic end point of neoliberal austerity. Over a three-week period five of the collaborators will also facilitate a study session via video conference where their ideas can be elaborated and explored with a group of workshop participants.

This project takes place on First Nations land across two continents, both marked by the violence of settler colonialism. We acknowledge the unceded lands of Wangal, Dharug, Gundungurra, Gadigal, Wurundjeri, and Ohlone peoples. We further acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Nations this digital platform reaches. We acknowledge the unbroken sovereignty of First Nations people and the countless struggles against settler-colonial occupation. We pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging.