Beneath the Surface: Deep Listening, Buried Narratives, and Embodied Resistance

As part of the exhibition Botanizing the Asphalt, Luïza Luz will present the lecture performance “Beneath the Surface: Deep Listening, Buried Narratives, and Embodied Resistance”.

“Beneath the Surface: Deep Listening, Buried Narratives, and Embodied Resistance” is a lecture performance by Luïza Luz, based on their book of the same title (2024, Archive Books & we make it). Combining spoken words and somatics, it introduces deep listening as an embodied political practice. Participants are invited to sense how power and emotion take shape in the body, where listening becomes a practice of awareness, refusal, and collective attunement.

About the book:
In a world where noise and silence perpetuate cycles of oppression and ecological destruction, Beneath the Surface invites us to pause, listen deeply, and use our voices to reclaim buried stories. This composition presents a radical approach to knowledge production, emphasizing embodied resistance as a crucial means of emancipation. Grounded in the body as a living archive, Beneath the Surface encourages listeners to confront shared inheritances and transform trauma into pathways for eco-liberation. In these turbulent times, deep listening becomes our most vital ally. As we grieve not only for lost lives but also for lost connections, we yearn to reconnect with one another and the Earth. Listening—through sound and the felt experiences of our bodies—offers us a way back.

About the artist:
Luïza Luz is a Brazilian, Berlin-based artist, writer, and educator. Their work investigates listening, embodiment, and collective imagination, unfolding through performances, installations, and pedagogical practices. They are the author of “Beneath the Surface” (Archive Books & we make it, 2024) and “Planetary Embodiment: Cooking with Words for Systemic Change and Solidarity” (2023), and they teach at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam.

Botanizing the Asphalt

Artists: Ana Vaz, Alexandre Estrela, Anna Schachinger, Haig Aivazian, Hugo de Almeida Pinho, Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, Marjolijn Dijkman, Pedro Henriques, Younes Ben Slimane

Curated by Sara Castelo Branco

The exhibition Botanizing the Asphalt explores the political role of urban spaces at night through three thematic realms that intersect with the nocturnal: protest, energy, and the botanizing. Addressing its sensorial and atmospheric nature, the potential of the night as a community meeting space unfolds against the backdrop of pressing social, ecological, and political contexts. The title is inspired by Walter Benjamin’s description (1938) of how the flâneur experiences the city emotionally while wandering the streets. Entering the exhibition is like being immersed in a green urban valley: weaving together dreamlike meditations on resistance, memory, identity and place, the show aims to involve and delve deeper into nocturnal social imaginaries.


With the support of DGARTES and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as well as Mondriian Fund.