Tarek Atoui creates a unique performance for the Synagogue of Timișoara based on field recordings of harbours from his Water’s Witness project. Combining woodwork, electronic engineering and computer programming, Atoui is building a special instrument for this occasion performing on it for the first time in Timisoara. It will take the shape of a series of oak or tek wooden boxes that connect to each other and to a variety of Atoui’s instruments, waiter and air systems.
In the context of the Synagogue, the audience will be seated around Atoui in a circular way, and invited to silently walk around in the space during the performance.
Tarek Atoui’s performance is part of the exhibition Chronic desire – Sete cronica.
Duration: 1h 15 min

Tarek Atoui is an artist and composer born in Beirut, living and working in France. His work stems from performance and looks into how sound can be perceived with sensory organs other than the ear, how sound acts as a catalyst for human interaction, and how it relates to social, historical, or spatial parameters. The point of departure for his works is usually extensive anthropological, ethnological, musicological, or technical research, which results in the realization of instruments, listening rooms, performances, or workshops.
Atoui has presented his work internationally at the Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates (2009 and 2013); dOCUMENTA 13 in Kassel, Germany (2012); the 8th Berlin Biennial (2014); Tate Modern, London (2016); CCA NTU, Singapore (2017); Garage Moscow (2018); the 58th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia (2019), the Okayama Art Summit 2019, The Sharjah Art Foundation (2020), The Fridericianum (2020), Pinault Collection (2021).  He was appointed co-artistic director of STEIM studios in 2007, and of the Bergen Assembly, a triennial for contemporary art in Norway in 2016. He is the recipient of the Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize 2020.
Tarek Atoui currently lives and works in Paris, France.