Join new media artist, Olive Yu, for Gestural Listening! This hands-on workshop explores sound as a product of gesture, touch, and embodied interaction, rather than traditional instruments or notation.

Drawing conceptual inspiration from Ash Fure’s exhibition in the Pioneer Works Main Hall, ANIMAL [a listening gym], the workshop invites participants to think of the body as a sensing and sound-making system—where pressure, proximity, repetition, and movement function as compositional material.

Participants will experiment with simple touch-based interfaces, capacitive sensing, and recording techniques to translate physical gestures into sound. Using a small sensor-based system, participants discover how the body itself—its tilt, reach, and movement—can become a musical instrument. The emphasis is on process, listening, and awareness, rather than technical mastery or musical training.

Participate level: No prior experience with electronics, music technology, or Ableton Live is needed.

Class cost: $85 ticket includes instruction and all necessary materials.

Required materials: Each participant will receive their own electronics kit (including a microcontroller, 9DoF sensor, time-of-Flight (ToF) distance sensor, breadboard & jumper wires, and USB cables) and will be guided, step-by-step, to assemble a circuit. All firmware will be provided. If you use Ableton Live, please feel free to bring a laptop with an active account.

Members receive 15% off all workshops by entering their discount code at checkout. If you need the code, please email us at members@pioneerworks.org.

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.