Introduction

As part of the Music and Performance Programme, Lebanese sound artist Tarek Atoui orchestrated a series of new commissions by more than ten international musicians, including percussionists who performed on the roofscape of SAF’s art spaces, and an SB11 commissioned solo performance by Egyptian artist Hassan Khan during the opening week.

Later events included a Skype-based dance performance by Tunisian dancer and choreographer duo Selma and Sofiane Ouissi and an audiovisual concert by Japanese sound artist Ryoji Ikeda in April.

  • WITHIN

    Tarek Atoui conceived this programme as a sound composition of four interrelated movements that build up and feed back on each other. The unit of composition is the pulse. It is defined here as an action or event (performance, concert, workshop or research group) of a certain intensity (fortissimo, mezzo piano, piano, tacet) that periodically affects the activity and the soundscape of the city. WITHIN is influenced by the project Tacet, an investigation into how deaf people understand and perceive sound. This research has inspired Atoui to write WITHIN as a chain reaction of rhythmic and plucked pulses, silent and emic ones. It has also led him to look into the philosophy of Qin music, which makes connections between virtuosity, silence and sound.

    WITHIN lasted for the duration of the Biennial. It progressed spatially from the city to the Biennial. The programme began with performers occupying roundabouts, alleys and parking lots in the city, then moves to the public squares of Sharjah’s Heritage Area, onto the rooftops of the exhibition spaces and into the courtyards.

    For more information about this programme please click here.

  • Other Performances

    Alva noto (Carsten Nicolai)
    Unvrs (uniscope version)
    2012 | Audio-visual performance with a special appearance by Ryuichi Sakamoto

    Selma and Sofiane Ouissi
    Here(s)
    2011| Dance performance. Choreographed and performed by Selma and Sofiane Ouissi.
    Real-time video developer and digital writing advisor: Yacine Sebti. Production: Muzaq;
    Co-production: Meeting Point 6 (YATF)

    Ryoji Ikeda
    datamatics [ver. 2.0]
    2013| Audiovisual concert. Co-comissioned by AV Festival 06, ZeroOne San Jose & ISEA
    2006; Co-produced by Les Spectacles vivants-Centre Pompidou, YCAM, 2008; Produced
    by Forma

    Lagash (Saad Thamir, Bassem Hawar, Christina Fuchs,
    Jarry Singla)

    Musical performance