THE FOLLOWERS part one
six channel sonic installation
KV — Verein für zeitgenössische Kunst. Leipzig, Germany
“The building isn't a muted element. Its active atoms interact with the surroundings inevitably generating a subtle white noise.
Manipulating the invisible sound to analyze the statistics of bricks. Listening to its mysterious waves. Recording a constructive dialogue among huge architectures that contain a sound that is missing in the city.
What I identified by heart in Cairo and what connects this to Leipzig. Forge this essential link between the static and the moving. Silent and annoying. Musical concept and proper sonics. Local material and musical texture. Audible and readable text.”
Architectural sonic reflections generate standing waves that produce ordinary resonances that can be carefully heard as a pleasant sensation or an annoying one.
This includes numerous layers from sonic research, continuous study into the foundations of audio-sonic capture, and its bond to societal concepts. The city and what it contains highlights current conjunctions in surrounding sounds and their relationship to the metropolis and society.
This contribution bears light on the architectural sonic from Cairo to Leipzig. Throughout the time of the research trips to the two cities, recorded the frequencies of the sound waves from the buildings that were constructed during the socialist era. Combined with the concrete construction materials used and is however applied currently for buildings.
Adhan; is the Islamic call to public prayer in a mosque recited by a muezzin at prescribed times of the day.
Although many mosques in Cairo are considered among the most prominent signs of Islamic history. It inherits significant architectural conditions and building styles rendering to the era. At the beginning of the Egyptian Republic, in 1952. And the entry of Nasser, carrying socialism with him. Coinciding with the collapse of architectural systems. People began operating unoccupied rooms on the ground floors of the buildings for prayer. Which called for placing loudspeakers in each building. So that the sound of the Adhan becomes uniform throughout the country five times a day. It is the acoustic assembly system, which places a layer to that with an extended range. Until it enhanced an integral part of the sounds of the city.
“The Followers” is a sound installation with multi-sonic channels containing the waves of the Adhan with Mekawei’s voice. In Egypt, females are not allowed to recite the call to prayer in public places. In addition to; sounds of Socialist Architecture. Which were recorded in Cairo and Leipzig.
