We Need Gardeners and Friends, Not Emperors or Kings is a socially engaged art project and multichannel sound installation that explores feminist men’s movements and listening.

In the locker room of a football club, Morten Poulsen facilitated a series of workshops with a group of six men from different countries to discuss masculinity norms and friendship. Through conversation, caress, song and humming, they shared experiences and desires to move away from a masculinity based on dominance and disconnection, and instead cultivate understandings of interconnections, through collective self-reflection, listening and a shared space for vulnerability.

Through the use of personal microphones, the workshops was documented from each participants’ individual perspective. These recordings then formed the material for a six-channel sound installation, where each participant is presented in a corresponding loudspeaker. The ASMR character of the sound invites the listener into the individual’s intimate sphere.

In connection with the exhibition, stickers with the title of the project were produced and distributed in and around Copenhagen.

The project is inspired by feminist consciousness-raising groups and is partly a portrait of men who work to actively deconstruct hegemonic masculine ideals (R.W. Connel). They criticise the narrow and rigid frameworks of gender norms, and seek opportunities to expand or dissolve masculinity norms. They practice awareness of the role of traditional gender norms in unhealthy and harmful cultures, and thus also how they bear a responsibility for deconstructing how this Man is not good for anyone, not even themselves.

The workshops and sound installation sought to foster a listening that is non- linear and fragmented, with space for silences, intimacies and sensuousness; a proposed emphasis on listening as a key element for tender dialogue, understanding and inspiration for social change.

The exhibition is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation and Østerbropuljen.

Exhibited at Skjold Contemporary, Copenhagen DK in 2023

Thanks to the workshop participants.

Thanks to Sound Art Lab, Skjold Boldklub and Karl Heding.

Photos by Morten Poulsen