(cover image : Cevdet Erek, Jingle, (2012), glass, sound and iPod, dimensions variable, photo Peter Cox, courtesy Akinci Gallery)
SilentSpaceStandStill is an exhibition exploring the use of sound in a mosque in central Athens that has long been silent.
A series of sound interventions will take place in the Tzisdaraki mosque in Monastiraki Square over the period of a month. Four artists who use the medium of sound in their work will give a performance, a talk or make some sort of live presentation inside or around the mosque. Following on from each performance, a work of theirs which includes elements of sound will be housed in the mosque for a week.The exhibition will function as a series of solo presentations which in turn constitute an exhibition unit with its internal rhythms, exclamation marks, pauses and, finally, full stop. SilentSpaceStandStill aims to generate a dialogue with the space, the mosque being experienced anew through contemporary works of art. In particular, the exhibition will reintegrate sound into a space originally built for that medium, an echo of the building’s original architectural purpose.
SilentSpaceStandStill will explore how sound can activate and frame physical space through a variety of strategies like rhythm, percussion, pitch, the use of voice and other instruments, the sampling of sounds and digital synthesis. Through a series of gestures and interventions the exhibition will suggest an architecture of sound that can resonate through the site, and its history, touching the people inside it.
The Tzisdaraki Mosque, built in 1759, has been a Museum since 1918. It is currently an annex of the Museum of Greek Folk Art, housing a collection of Modern Greek ceramics.
Performances:
Athanasios Argianas – Friday 29th March
Dani Gal – Friday 5th April
Tarek Atoui – Friday 12th April
Cevdet Erek – Friday 19th April
On the evenings of the performances the Mosque will be open 8 – 10 pm. All the performances will begin at 21.00. The exhibition is hosted by the Museum of Greek Folk Art.
TAREK ATOUI, THE METASTABLE CIRCUIT, (2012), DOCUMENTA 13, COURTESY THE ARTIST
DANI GAL, DUMITRESCU?S DREAM (FILM STILL), (2012/2010), 2 SYNCHRONIZED HD FILMS, COLOUR, SOUND, 28?54 LOOP, DIMENSIONS VARIABLE, COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS & FREYMOND-GUTH FINE ARTS
ATHANASIOS ARGIANAS, NOTES FOR THE SCORE BRANCHING MUSIC (UNDER THE TREES ABOVE YOU), (2013), COURTESY LOCUS ATHENS & ON STELLAR RAYS, NYREAD ALSO: MAΡΙΑ ΓΙΑΝΝΑΚΑΚΗ / ΑΙΘΟΥΣΑ ΤΕΧΝΗΣ ΤΕΧΝΟΧΩΡΟΣ