The following piece of writing / performance instruction  was published as part of a collaborative exploration of the terms utopia/belonging in the 28th issue of Arts of The Working Class.

The gesture of holding a shell close to one’s ear is as old as humanity itself and recognized across different cultures and generations. I think of it as an utopian gesture, as the wind-listener desires and imagines an endless place that is said to be held within the hollow body: A vast ocean, a place of time / timelessness itself. When I was a child, I wondered often: How did the ocean find its way into a shell?

A shell is a resonating chamber. When sound from the outside enters the body it bounces around and creates an audible noise. For many hundreds if not thousands of years, they have been used as music and wind instruments and the song of the sea has been listened to around the world; in different yet shared times. This act of listening creates a sense of unity among us and with nature. It taps into the power of the human imagination as it allows us to step back from the present moment and wander into distant memories or imagined places in the future. Here we can construct a utopian realm where anything is possible. What are the tides of the sea washing ashore? With the sound of the ocean drumming in our ears, we can transcend the linear limitations of time and connect with the echoes of the past and the possibilities to come.

As a practice of creating a tiny utopia, you might want to find a shell to share with others. Often, they get sold as leftover memorabilia from long-ago vacations at flea markets or in thrift stores, so a trip to the sea is not necessarily required. But if you are not lucky with finding a shell at all, ask somebody if they can form two shells with their hands and cover your ears.

Close your eyes, drift off, imagine — and if you feel comfortable speaking, dream aloud.

What utopian places do you create in your mind’s eye? Are there any memories that come close to utopia?

Hand out the shells to your dialogue partner or reverse the gesture and cover their ears.

Repeat whenever, wherever and as many times you want. There lies magic and power in the act of listening closely.