Courtyard Ornamentation with 4 Sounding Dots and a Shade

Overview

Four directional loudspeakers are placed on the walls surrounding the courtyard of Bait Gholoum Ibrahim, in Sharjah’s Heritage Area. Each loudspeaker plays a percussive pattern repeated at regular intervals, creating different combinations. Only at the 'sweet spot' under a central shade do the four sounds combine, forming a recognisable rhythm: a reduced version of one of the world’s best-known dance beats. The beat becomes a minimal gesture, an invitation to dance in the empty courtyard of Bait Gholoum Ibrahim.

The recorded percussive sounds were performed by hand, reflecting the artist’s desire to connect 'audio ornamentation' with handmade visual ornamentation. The human voice is also heard occasionally, transmitting a message that acts as a calligraphic text in geometrical relation to the percussive dots.


2013

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 11

Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation