Owen, Louise (2026) ‘Will-to-know’: cultural reckoning with climate catastrophe. Et al - Journal for Performance Theory and Practice. pp. 128-161. (In Press)

Abstract

John Akomfrah’s extraordinary sound and video installation Listen- ing All Night to the Rain (2024) was commissioned for the British Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale (Foreigners Everywhere – Stranieri Ovunque). Constructed of eight audio-visual ‘cantos’ pre- sented outside and within the British Pavilion, it sought to explore “the structural forces behind climate colonialism, forced migration, and the resulting impact on our environment” (British Council Digital Guide, 2025). This essay analyses Listening All Night to the Rain as an instance of knowledge production, examining its dramatization of the structural and epistemological underpinnings of contemporary climate catastrophe in the context of digital culture and the attention economy.