Tarek Atoui (塔里克·阿图伊) | Vitamin Creative Space

WITHIN

In March 2013, Tarek Atoui presented WITHIN at the Sharjah Biennial 11 (Sharjah – United Arab Emirats).

It is a several months long composition resulting from Atoui’s knowledge of Sharjah the work he has been developing with the Sharjah Art Foundation since 2009.

WITHIN counted around 70 participants and made no distinction between performer, musician, student, designer, researcher professional or amateur and considered everybody as active members capable of influencing the course of the piece and to play different roles in it (spectator, educator, conductor, thinker, performer, …).

I – The Call

Metricize

Over 7 days, ten drummers from different horizons and origins visit Sharjah and meet local percussionists who introduce them to the rhythmic traditions of the Gulf.

On the mornings of the first 3 days of the biennial, in solo, the drummers took on alleyways, parking lots, and markets around the biennial.

In the afternoon, they get closer to the biennial and played on its rooftops in duos, trios and quartets.

At night they all gathered and performed in the public squares of the heritage area and the biennale.

Live Ammunition: Music for Clapping, String Quartet and Electronics

A commissioned solo electronic music composition and performance by Hassan Khan.

Duration 9 days

Location: the city of Sharjah, several squares in the Heritage Area, the rooftops of the Biennial’s exhibition spaces

Performed by Uriel Barthelemi, Jim Black, Brian Chippendale, Cevdet Erek, Hassan Khan, Susie Ibarra, Lukas Ligeti, Morten Olsen, Kevin Shea, Yoshida Tatsuya & Yoshimi Goto.

II – The Circle

The Circle was a series of improvised solos by 3 different string players. The performances of the Circle took place inside the courtyards of Sharjah’s heritage area. These venues provided intimate listening situations in which the audience was seated close to the performers.

Duration: 1 month

The courtyards inside the heritage area.

Performed by: Sophie Agnel, Charbel Haber, Wu Na

III – The Tacet

Tacet’s council was composed of 8 persons including artists and academics from various disciplines (sound and performance, design, cultural studies, psychology) and individuals directly concerned by the issue.

Over 3 days, in collaboration with the students from Al Amal school for the Deaf, the Council (Sandra Terdjman & Gregory Castera) ran a public program of workshop, conference, performances, formal and informal gatherings.

Duration: 3 days

Location: Sharjah’s calligraphy school

IV- The Emic

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Since 2012, Atoui explores the relations between music and deaf culture. In collaboration with deaf students of Al Amal school, in Sharjah (United Emirates), Atoui conceived various workshops in which students became more sensitive to electronic music, using sound as a vibrating matter and inventing ways of visualizing and playing it.

In 2013, the collaboration with Al Amal school for the deaf continued and Tarek Atoui proposed to go further. With instruments that he built and large bass speakers to better feel vibrations, the students were invited to play and listen to one another in order to compose a collective sound performance.

With these experiences, Atoui understands differently the role of the “listening body” in music and the form of creativity that a person who hears differently can develop.