ART TRAVELOGUE: Creation Myths–God, Science and Translation–Haroon Mirza at Focal Point Gallery

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ART TRAVELOGUE is a new format, an audio/video journey with art as a destination. 

What you get from this Summer Special Episode:

You'll find out about British artist Haroon Mirza's new commissioned piece (a performance and a sound installation) for Focal Point Gallery's exhibition In Other Worlds: Acts of Translation . By travelling with our host, curator Joana P. R. Neves, you hear about the people, the seascapes, the urban areas, histories of Essex's estuary, through the scope of Mirza's translation of electric sounds from an older piece into human voices. This journey will be told in Joana's voice but also through recordings of the artist, and the two curators of the exhibition, Inês Costa and Yates Norton. And finally, you'll arrive on site to experience the performance Adam, Eve, Others and a UFO for Choral Octet.

To know more about Focal Point Gallery: https://www.fpg.org.uk/ – Instagram: @focalpointgallery

To know more about Haroon Mirza: https://www.lissongallery.com/artists/haroon-mirzahttps://www.youtube.com/@outputs_av

Key themes:

Sound; light; sound art; translation; performance art; music and sound; the singing voice; translating sound to voice; knowledge; wisdom; contemporary art; new technologies; generative technologies; AI; Essex county, communication; shamanism; non-verba communication; understanding versus experiencing; anticipation and experience; the Genesis and science; theories of creation; language; art languages; orality; the written word; histories; history as myth; faith, myth and science.

Sound Bites...

"Translating is accepting defeat."

"Music is communication, right?"

"Essex is a land for experimentation."

If you enjoyed the episode, you may enjoy Joana's essays on Substack: ⁠⁠⁠https://joanaprneves.substack.com⁠⁠⁠

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Chapters

00:00 Introducing Art Travelogue: The Journey From London to Southend Starts

07:58 Discovering Essex,The Most Misunderstood County in the UK

15:26 Mirza's 2013 piece Adam, Eve, Others and a UFO (Installation & Sound)

19:22 Electricity, Music, Communication and Shamanism

23:08 Communication and Translation Beyond Words

30:10 The Difference Between Knowing and Interpreting

37:12 The Performance: Canaan, The Choir, The AI, The Shaman

44:57 Myths of Creation: Gender, Language, Knowledge, Power

40:52 The Power of Words and Language

49:16 Outro