5 minutes of silence

5 minutes of silence is a sacred ritual of overt silence led by Kim V. Goldsmith. It is an act of intention, introspection, and interruption of time, gestures, our bodies, speech, and thoughts, in memory of what more-than-humans worlds have been lost and what we’re losing. Conscious acts of silence offer space for reflection, connection and care—for us and the more-than-human world we share the world with. Leaning into the silence, we have an opportunity to take a collective vow to respect, restore and regenerate our the environments that sustain us.

This performative event can be run with a Listening Lab and/or sound walk.

Slideshow of images from the AiNIN COMING TOGETHER: Right Here Right Now event at Greenfields Gallery and Sculpture Park, Kin Kin Queensland on 5 July 2025 (images: GG Porteous)

Participant responses

How did 5 minutes go so fast?
I loved how you described the texture of sounds changing over the 5 minutes.
Did you notice that the cows stopped too, and watched us. And when we started talking and moving again, so did they!
Those sounds (through the speaker) will stay with me. That’s amazing.
I love how you can feel the sounds.
…very earthing.
…sounds got lounder, more intense.
Regretful time was up.
Interesting contrast between…sounds.

Background to 5 minutes of silence

Performances involving silence aren’t new. Composer and music theorist, John Cage’s 1952 seminal work 4’33” is explicitly designed to force you to listen to what’s around you. The performer of 4′33″ is expected to play nothing at all. It doesn’t require an ability to read music, so anyone can perform it.

But can anyone listen to it? In a world crammed with competing noise, have we got the capacity to just listen to our surrounds? For some, the silence is too deafening.

Silence has also been central to some of the works created by performance artist, Marina Abramović. The 2010 work, The Artist is Present is often considered her most ambitious work. However, it was a reinvention of the the 1981-87 work, Nightsea Crossing where she and her lover/fellow performance artist, Uwe Laysiepen, sat separated by a table, in total silence for eight hours a day.

5 minutes of silence asks for only five minutes, not eight hours. As a field recording sound artist who has spent time listening to and recording the natural environment for many years—often searching for sounds and soundscapes not marred by anthropogenic noise, I know the noisiest species of all is us—humans. It’s why I often work alone.

When asked to walk in silence on a soundwalk, many participants find it difficult. When asked to sit for one minute with eyes closed at the start of an artist talk to listen more deeply to a recording, many find it uncomfortable. Why do we feel the need to dominate the soundscapes we’re part of? 5 minutes of silence aims to challenge this.

— Kim V. Goldsmith