OPERA INFINITA is a multi-dimensional project conceived by Denise Ferreira da Silva and Jota Mombaça. It assembles the practices of collective sensing, polyvocality, and ‘elemental listening’ activated through a series of multi-local offline and online vocal gatherings. CHAPTER 0: HAS THE FIRE READ THE STORIES IT BURNT? aims for a deep consideration of what possibilities fire instantiates for elemental forms of listening. In an attempt to move past reductive approaches that consider fire as an obliterant element, this sonic piece deals with sound as heat and fire-induced crackling as re-de-composition of matter and language. Through fragmentation and juxtaposition, the piece mixes various textual elements such as Mombaça’s speculative fiction Can you sound like two thousand? and Ferreira da Silva’s poem Terra Vermelha (Red Earth) with elemental sounds and distorted soundscapes. The work was composed in collaboration with researcher and sonic producer Anti Ribeiro, between Lisbon, Vancouver and Palmeiras.