❤️ Beirut
Tarek Atoui (b. 1980, Beirut, Lebanon) is a sound artist based in Paris. He opens Frieze week in London today with a legendary return to the Hyundai Commission in the Tate Turbine Hall.
It took Atoui 7 months of coding to create the live electronic processing of the mechanics which, groundbreakingly, will never repeat over the 6-month installation. An endless soundtrack to our times.
In a series of ceremonial brass trumpets from Uzbekistan, shamanic Korean drumskins made by master mentioned on the recording from the press conference above - heated by lamps used in chicken farms - powered by an industrial network of bamboo pipes which also connect Hyundai windscreen wipers to drum sticks and the series of shengs (Chinese & SE Asian mouth organs) with mics that pick up the ambience of contemporary ancientness - it’s an ideal place to gather, plot up for a day - and BE.
A megalithic marble sounddesk, guitar laid on the floor, fine carving, and subtle precision makes me really want to start performing again. The entire installation, which has steampunk, Heath Robinson-vibes, can be played as an entire instrument by the 45 international visiting composers and musicians, who share Tarek’s vision of performance as research, with free monthly Friday performances, workshops, under the HOLD banner. (Click for full programme.)
Collaborating with Arthur Mamou-Mani to create organic 3D-printed horns with sugar resin and bamboo dust, the generative rolling composition combines air and data modulated from the desk.
Satoshi Kondo, the artistic director of Issey Miyake’s womenswear, worked with Atoui’s studio on 20m-long, white textile hangings which are painted with a black stripe of charcoal conductive paint that transmits a low current to synths, generating bass as they oscillate with wind and humidity.
13 October - 11 April 2027
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