Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Sharjah Art Foundation will present La Suite, a five-hour performance by acclaimed Lebanese sound artist Tarek Atoui to launch Serpentine Gallery’s three-day Memory Marathon. In the presence of Sharjah Art Foundation President and Director Hoor Al Qasimi, and HE Abdulrahman Ghanem Almutaiwee, UAE Ambassador to the UK, this performance will be held at Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon Dome on October 12, 2012 at 6pm. This performance is made possible with the generous support of Badr Jafar.
In this work, Atoui explores Tarab both as a traditional form of music and an Arabic word to describe the emotional effect music has on the listener. Atoui’s approach to engaging with Tarab involves inviting sound artists with different musical practices, styles and backgrounds to create a dialogue with the collection of Kamal Kassar’s AMAR Foundation, which houses the largest library of Tarab and classical Arab music in the world. From diverse genres such as pop, hip hop, electronica, improvisation and noise art, Atoui looks for artists distinguished by their unique performance styles and experimentation with sound techniques, and asks them to utilise Kassar’s library as a body of sound material from which to imagine and design live acts and performances.
The musicians participating in La Suite include, Uriel Barthélémi, John Butcher, Mira Calix, Susie Ibarra, Hassan Khan, Kazuyuki Kishino, Lukas Ligeti, Robert Lowe, Ikue Mori, Sara Parkins, Zeena Parkins, Ghassan Sahhab, Sam Shalabi.
Atoui has long been captivated by the improvisation inherent in this deeply evocative music, which binds the audience to the performer. Tarab sessions are known to last for hours, facilitating a musically-induced state of ecstasy. As Atoui explains, ‘Tarab is not a music genre but a state of ‘melotrance’ that you reach after being exposed to music for a certain amount of time’.
Tickets £10/8 available from the Serpentine Gallery Lobby Desk (020 7402 6075), or ticketweb.co.uk
Tarek Atoui was born in Lebanon in 1980 and moved to France in 1998 where he studied sound art and electro-acoustic music. In 2006, he released his first solo album in the Mort Aux Vaches series for Staalplaat Records, and in 2008, he served as artistic director of the STEIM Studios in Amsterdam, a centre for the research and development of new electronic musical instruments. Atoui is a sound artist who initiates multidisciplinary interventions, events, concerts and workshops and specializes in creating computer tools for interdisciplinary projects and youth education. He has presented work internationally including the Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE(2009); the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2010); La Maison Rouge, Paris (2010); the Mediacity Biennial, Seoul (2010), the Haus Der Kunst, Munich (2010), Performa 11, NYC (2011) and dOCUMENTA 13 (2012).
About Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF):
Sharjah Art Foundation brings a broad range of contemporary art and cultural programmes to the communities of Sharjah, the UAE and the region. Since 2009 SAF has built on the history of cultural collaboration and exchange that began with the first Sharjah Biennial in 1993. Working with local and international partners, we create opportunities for artists and artistic production through our core initiatives that include the Sharjah Biennial, the annual March Meeting, residencies, production grants, commissions, exhibitions, research, publications and a growing collection. Our education and public programmes focus on building recognition of the central role art can play in the life of a community by promoting public learning and a participatory approach to art. Sharjah Art Foundation is funded by the Department of Culture and Information, Government of Sharjah.
About Serpentine Gallery:
Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon is the seventh in a pioneering series conceived by Serpentine Gallery Co-Director Hans Ulrich Obrist. Directly inspired by the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei, the three-day event will take place during Frieze Art Fair Week and will mark the closing weekend of the Pavilion. Past Serpentine Gallery Marathons are: Garden Marathon (2011); Map Marathon (2010); Poetry Marathon (2009); Manifesto Marathon (2008); Experiment Marathon (2007); Interview Marathon (2006).
For full information go to www.serpentinegallery.org/marathons
Park Nights: On Friday nights throughout the summer the Serpentine Gallery will present music, theatre, performances, talks and film screenings in the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei. The season will explore personal, historical, archaeological and digital memory and culminates on 12, 13 and 14 October with the Memory Marathon, the seventh in the acclaimed Marathon series.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Sharjah Art Foundation
Alyazeyah Al Reyaysa
Public & Media Relations Officer
Tel: +971-6-544-4113, ext. 17
E: alyazeyah@sharjahart.org
FITZ & CO, New York
Meg Blackburn
Tel: +1 212-627-1455 x 225
E: meg@fitzandco