Escucha: La Wak’a Habla / Listen: The Wak’a Speaks

Join artists Juan William Chávez, Kiersten Torrez, and Alan Poma for a participatory workshop** to explore stones as sources of sound and create recorded sounds that will become a part of the Laumeier After Dark Wak'a Garden sound performance.

Escucha: La Wak'a Habla / Listen: The Wak'a Speaks will begin with a brief introduction to Wak'a Garden, a commissioned sculpture by the Laumeier Sculpture Park 2026 Visiting Artist in Residence Juan William Chávez and 2026 Kranzberg Exhibition Series Artist Kiersten Torrez. This will be followed by a presentation by Peruvian sound artist Alan Poma on the cultural significance of sound and how sound gives stones and wak'as a voice and the ability to speak. Wak'a are sacred objects or places in Andean tradition that embody divine power and receive ritual reverence.

Chávez and Poma will guide participants through a series of exercises exploring stones as sources of sound. Using small river stones, we will experiment with two simple gestures—tapping and rubbing—to discover different sounds and rhythms. These exercises aim to build a relationship between participants and the stones. Rather than treating the stone only as an object that produces sound, the workshop asks participants to consider what changes when we listen to the stone as something with which we can establish a relationship.

Chávez and Poma will use small megaphones equipped with recorders to capture these sounds and play them back. This will allow participants to layer individual stone sounds into collective polyrhythms, creating a shared sonic composition for an improvisational sound performance that gives the stones a voice and the ability to speak.

The sounds created during the workshop will become part of the Laumeier After Dark Wak'a Garden sound performance by Juan William Chávez and Alan Poma, extending the workshop into a larger collective composition.

**This event is free and open to the public, but participants in the sound workshop will play a role in the creation of sound materials for the performance at Laumeier’s After Dark. If you register to participate, please be sure that you are able to attend the workshop from 6 to 8 PM.

Info: Participants in the sound workshop will play a role in the creation of sound materials for the performance at Laumeier’s After Dark. If you register to participate, please be sure that you are able to attend from 6 to 8 PM.

Event venue & nearby stays

21c Museum Hotel St. Louis, 1528 Locust St., St. Louis, United States

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