Listening Without Ears consists of 3D printed copies of everyday objects that transcribe what is said in the exhibition space and print it out. The work was part of the group exhibition "Perpetual Interpreter" at Lokale in Copenhagen, co-curated with Anders Visti.

The exhibition invited seven artists to examine the expressive and poetic qualities of computer programming, looking at how code affects us beyond the interfaces of software applications. The show aimed to make the realm of coded instructions, programming languages, software protocols, electrical signals and logical operations available to aesthetic experience.

Ørum's installation used speech recognition technology integrated into sculptural objects that resembled common household items. These objects continuously monitored conversations in the gallery space, converting spoken words into text through automated transcription systems, then physically printing the transcribed text.

The work operated as both a functional listening device and a sculptural intervention, questioning the boundaries between surveillance, documentation, and artistic practice. The 3D printed objects served as camouflaged recording devices, appearing as innocuous everyday items while performing the technical operation of speech-to-text conversion.

"Perpetual Interpreter" featured works by Kristoffer Akselbo (DK), Andreja Andric (RS/DK), Joana Chicau (PT/NL), Rosemary Lee (US/DK), Winnie Soon (HK/DK), Anders Visti + Tobias Stenberg (DK), and Kristoffer Ørum (DK). The exhibition opened on Friday, November 8th, 2019.

The project was supported by research conducted at Aarhus University as part of an ongoing investigation into the aesthetic dimensions of computational processes and automated interpretation systems.