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AIRE is an invitation to sit and listen. A conversation beyond words through shared sound, silence and space. AIRE (from the Irish ‘attention’) is a practice, developed by Óscar Mascareñas and Tony Monahan, that has its origins in the idea of inter-being (promoted by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh), and is grounded in observation through silence, stillness and sound. It is a practice of silence. But not always silent. Of observing (in) silence. But not always silently. An action of poetry, towards poetry. From/in/into stillness. Not entirely an acoustic practice (John Cage - ‘silence is not acoustic, it is a change of mind, a turning around’), it is centred in attention, it is a space for recognising the inter-connection and inter-being of all things. AIRE is observing as one practices observation. It beckons one to behold.
Tony Monahan is a guitarist, composer, producer and educator exploring the connection between space and the free-flowing sounds of our surroundings.