Listening to the Mississippi is an iterative project that has unfolded since 2013 and currently manifests as a sound composition and traveling listening station. Using underwater recordings gathered in 2015 by artists Monica Haller and Sebastian Müllauer that span the river from the headwaters to the Gulf, listeners are invited to orient themselves to the river through their sense of sound, rather than by sight alone. The project seeks to understand the Mississippi as a dynamic condition that includes the past and the present and stretches across a great distance. Through the use of mobile listening packs that include headphones, a felted mat, and listening notes, the project cultivates distinct moments of engagement through compilations of sound and the activation of other senses: sight, smell, and even touch.

Read more on our partner project website, Anthropocene Curriculum.