CANCELLED - Exhibition: We Listen to Understand

23rd and 24th June 2025 

The Boiler House, Newcastle University  

An exhibition of creative work, performance and participatory events developed by artist Michele Allen in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Re-imagining Leadership project. Michele writes:  

“Since October 2024 I have been artist in residence with the project which uses participatory action research to reflect on psychological safety, leadership and inclusion within the university, through dialogue with a core group of staff from multiple job roles. I see my role as that of creative note-taker, both insider and outsider, responding to group discussions and reflecting on my experience of being precariously employed in the institution for five years as an associate lecturer.  

This event forms a mid-point reflection for the project, sharing work in progress which includes moving image, photography, drawing and a performance featuring commentary from the group. The group operates under Chatham House Rule, meaning that ideas and experiences are shared in confidence. This emphasis on anonymity has been central to structuring the creative process which plays with visibility and invisibility, speaking and not speaking. The title for this series of events is drawn from the ‘ground rules’ and ethos established for participatory action research undertaken by the group: We remember that ‘listening to understand’ is different to ‘listening to reply’. 

The exhibition aims to create a space for reflection and dialogue around power structures and psychological safety within the institution and to amplify the voices of people who are often marginalised within those structures. It will also feature examples of systems mapping created by the group using participatory methods and provide opportunities to feedback on how the university works, through a series of formal and informal sessions. On Monday 23rd there will be a performance ‘We listen to understand’ where the audience will be invited to join in with a collective reading of text drawn from discussions with the group, who will be collectively speaking each other’s words.”  

Timings 

Monday 23 June  

10am to 2pm – open to the public  

2pm to 3.45pm – closed session with the Research Culture Development Group  

4pm to 6pm - private opening with refreshments. Performance / collective reading at 4.15pm

Registration for the Private View session (open to members of staff networks and union, RCDG group).

Tuesday 24 June 

10am to12noon – private project meeting

12noon to 1.30pm – open to the public

1.30pm to 4pm – open to the public, and optional group meetings in space 

4pm to 5pm – open to public

NB: Image Loops it's a credit to Michele Allen, artist-in-residence on Reimagining Leadership project

Last modified: Thu, 29 May 2025 16:12:43 BST