Events

What's on in London: In The Dark

Is it possible to have an aural orgy?

Gaydar

13 Mar 2025 — 4 min read

What does sex sound like?

In The Dark is an event curated by Adam Zmith which immerses the audience in a curated soundscape of sounds from the bedroom and other sexually-charged situations.

We caught up with Adam for a behind-the-scenes look at the event.

What was your inspiration to create this event?

In The Dark is an incredible, long-running event series that, for more than 14 years, has created a mini-revolution in the way people think about spoken-word radio by lifting it out of its traditional settings and celebrating it in new and exciting ways.

It's a collaborative project between a new generation of radio producers and radio enthusiasts.

The producers of ITD, such as Talia Augustidis who is producing the next event, have commissioned new works from producers around the world, and staged countless live listening events at festivals, theatres, cinemas and museums.

The aim has always been to bring people together in a space, to experience exquisite and diverse audio work. It's one of London's most unique regular events!

It's an immersive ASMR experience? Sort of like an aural orgy? What's the set-up - is everyone blindfolded?

Blindfolds won't be mandatory, but people can wear one if they want!

The set up is that we'll gather round on seats in a basement bar, and I will stand on stage and host the event, introducing the topic and each of the audio pieces, which we all then listen to in turn.

In The Dark is known for its curation, so I was honoured to be asked to take on this role for the event on March 19th.

There's a magic in choosing a wide range of pieces that speak to the theme - in this case, sex - and then ordering them in the programme in a way to take the listener on a journey.

There'll be some pieces that make people laugh, some that make people feel uncomfortable, and some that might even make them want to rush out and find someone to spend the night with.

Is the intention of the work to arouse the audience?

Sexual arousal isn't the intention. But art, especially good audio, can sometimes arouse in sexual ways or other surprising ways, am I right?

I will be including some pieces of audio porn, which is a whole type of porn that most people don't know exists. I got into it when I was co-writing and co-producing a documentary series for Audible, called Press Play, Turn On. I met some fantastic audio porn creators whose work shows the variety of human sexuality, and shows how porn can be queer, trans-inclusive, accessible, and very very sexy.

I can't wait to share some good examples of that kind of work at In The Dark for people who don't usually listen to audio porn. But there'll also be plenty of other types of audio too - interviews, audio fiction, radio documentaries, and even a conversation about orchids.

What's the process you've followed to record the sounds you're using in this work? Have you had to spend a lot of time pointing a microphone at people having sex?

The pieces I've curated are all made by other audio producers and artists, and it's clear from their contributions that they've used a range of recording techniques.

Some are just straight interviews. Others are audio porn, where the creator has chosen a very intimate moment and setting to record themselves speaking into the mic as if into a lover's ear.

There's one recording from a sex party with multiple people, and I can only imagine the difficulties in getting good audio from that, with so many people and the desire to not let cables get in the way of the fun!

I've also curated a piece of audio fiction that merges voice with music and sound effects in a way that, even to me as an audio producer, is mysteriously good and immersive!

What do you hope that people feel when they experience In The Dark?

The In The Dark series producers want people to experience audio in a communal setting - what is otherwise a very personal and usually solo activity. It's great to share a room with people who react at the same time as you, which is why we love the cinema and the theatre.

For me, in curating an event on the theme of sex, I want people to experience audio that can be both a personal experience and a shared one, and something so deeply about our bodies, and all our senses.

By focusing on the audio I think we all might learn something about how our desires operate.

In The Dark is taking place at The Looking Glass Cocktail Club on 19 March