Tarek Atoui — The Ground: From the Land to the Sea

Tarek Atoui, I/E recordings in Athens, 2015, documentation. Copyright Alexandre Guirkinger. Courtesy the artist.

Tarek Atoui — The Ground: From the Land to the Sea is the first solo exhibition in Southeast Asia by sound artist and composer Tarek Atoui, conceived as a musical composition that unfolds in space through its unique sound library and instruments. It is the first piece Atoui has created through associations between objects, instruments, and recordings, some borrowed from pre-existing projects, others newly collected and produced. The sounds are from underwater environments, as well as human and industrial activities in the harbours of Athens and Abu Dhabi, recorded for the ongoing project I/E. As part of the exhibition, Atoui will record, together with sound artist Eric La Casa, the harbour of Singapore to add to this collection.

Most of the instruments are part of The Ground project, the result of Atoui’s five-year-long observation of nature and agricultural processes in the Pearl River Delta, first presented at Mirrored Gardens in Guangzhou, China. The instruments are acoustic and electronic in nature and were made in collaboration with innovative luthiers, craftsmen, and electronic engineers. In Singapore, this ensemble will be enriched with new additions, such as a set of porcelain discs on which traditional Arab rhythms are engraved, and a record player that rotates at irregular speeds, never reading a disc the same way twice. The visitor will, therefore, witness an ever-changing sonic and visual scenery born out of the dialogue between an orchestra of unusual instruments and sounds recorded from harbours.

At the core of Atoui’s practice lies an ongoing process of inviting composers, musicians, and artists to collaborate on his pieces in search of new ideas, gestures, and experiences. For his presentation in Singapore, Atoui will engage with local and international musicians who will be invited to appropriate his composition and intervene in the exhibition space. He will work with acclaimed musicians Vivian Wang and Yuen Chee Wai, as well as music curator Mark Wong, who in turn will invite other musicians and sound artists to inhabit the installation throughout the course of the exhibition.

Opening: Friday, 23 March 2018, 7.00 – 9.00pm
Special Performance by the artist during the opening at 8 pm