The Big Draw: Global Listening Archive
The Big Draw at Hauser & Wirth
Throughout the month of October, Hauser & Wirth celebrated The Big Draw Festival 2023 theme ‘Drawing with Senses’ across our global locations. The gallery welcomed its audiences to foster meaningful connections with art and artists, encouraging deep listening and creative expression.
Participants were invited to bring attention to their thoughts, feelings and sensations in each gallery location as they intimately contemplated the artworks on display and record their personal responses through sound and voice. A selection of these responses are available to explore in this global listening archive.
About The Big Draw
The Big Draw is a charity dedicated to raising the profile of drawing as a tool for wellbeing, thought, creativity, as well as increasing social and cultural engagement. The Big Draw Festival is a worldwide celebration of drawing, connecting people of all ages with museums, galleries, outdoor spaces, artists, designers and illustrators throughout October.
Hauser & Wirth’s Big Draw activities recognize the vital role of drawing as a tool for communication, innovation and inclusivity. Hauser & Wirth has been a Big Draw organizer since 2014 and became a sponsor partner in 2020. In 2018 and 2021, we were delighted to win The Big Draw Museum & Gallery of the Year Award.
Participating Galleries
Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles hosted a participatory exhibition tour of ‘Harmony Korine. AGGRESSIVE DR1FTER.’ This tour allowed participants to ‘slow look’—the act of giving yourself time to create deeper connections with artworks. As part of the ‘slow look’ activity, participants were encouraged to record audio reflections of sensory experiences, memories and reactions.
Harmony Korine, UOU, 2023 © Harmony Korine. Photo: Julian Cousins
Installation view, ‘GRUPPENAUSSTELLUNG,’ Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2023 © Archiv Franz West / Estate Franz West. Courtesy the Franz West Foundation. Photo: Ken Adlard
Somerset
Inspired by the multidisciplinary Kunsthalle form of ‘GRUPPENAUSSTELLUNG,’ participants were invited to explore the artwork in the exhibition whilst deep listening to their senses and surroundings. Creating audio recordings of these sensory experiences, participants explored ways to translate sounds into color, shape and form through kinetic drawing and experimental noise generation.
Installation view, ‘GRUPPENAUSSTELLUNG,’ Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2023 © Archiv Franz West / Estate Franz West. Courtesy the Franz West Foundation. Photo: Ken Adlard
London
Hauser and Wirth London invited interactive responses inspired by the exhibition ‘Avery Singer. Free Fall.’
This interactive experience asks the public to think about how their senses conjure up individual and collective memories and related emotions and transform such ‘remembering’ into something physical. Visitors were asked to drop in and leave their own personalized recordings, drawings and creative writing in London’s Education Lab.
Avery Singer, Deepfake Marcy (detail), 2023 © Avery Singer. Photo: Lance Brewer
Menorca
Inspired by the forms, shapes and material of the outdoor artworks at Hauser & Wirth Menorca, visitors were invited to experiment with ways to transpose their sensory experiences of encountering these works into sound recordings and drawings.
Installation view, ‘Christina Quarles. Come In From An Endless Place,’ Hauser & Wirth Menorca, 2023
New York
Hauser & Wirth New York, 18th Street invited slow looking, close observation, and creative responses to ‘Louise Bourgeois. Once there was a mother.’ Our amphitheatre was activated as a space for creativity and contemplation. Gallery visitors were invited to leave personalized recordings, drawings and creative writing in response to the works on view.
Installation view, Louise Bourgeois ‘Once there was a mother,’ Hauser & Wirth New York, 18th Street, 2023 © The Easton Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS) NY. Photo: Thomas Barratt
Chillida Leku
Chillida Leku invited the whole community to draw and awaken all the senses. Exploring the museum’s sculptures with all five senses: touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell, participants explored how to translate sensations, emotions and experiences into creative works.
Is it possible to draw the feeling of a sculpture? How do the sculptures sound? If we draw the smell of the sculpture, what would it look like?
Upcoming events
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