I/E Abu Dhabi
Project initiated by Tarek Atoui in collaboration with Eric La Casa and Alexandre Guirkinger.I/E is an archaeology of sound, a research in sonic stromatography*, cracking into hidden frameworks of the city. Sounds are recorded from below the surface, the sea and the underground world, moving upwards in an attempt to locate, decipher and understand the identity of the place. The recordings transcribe the multiple layers of the landscape. For this project Tarek Atoui has been collaborating with sound recordists. Abu Dhabi’s edition counts with Eric La Casa. Together they navigate the acoustics, refractions and reverberations of waterfronts and their surroundings using different microphones to create a sound scan on a macro and micro scale. Some of the sounds go back to thousands of years ago and others belong to the contemporary city. In parallel, I build a photographic archive of the landscape of the harbour that emerges from the space of production or reverberation of the field recordings. Confronted to the description of each sound written by Eric La Casa during the recordings, the images explore what could be a visual archeology based on sounds.
Zayeb port
04:52
in the dump of materials traveling from the wall to the middle of the car dump frequency appearance the sound mask of the wall disappears gradually
06:02
(after) other traveling along the mill enclosure traveling to agreement motor mills as a guitar
06:44
unloading cargo the truck goes back then the unloading takes place the voices of the workers guiding the crane operator the continuous sound of cranes
05:20
engine room its destructured by the sound power traveling 04:00 traveling behind the glass door then door entry alarm
Port Khalifa - containers door
the boat slowly arrives at the pier at ground level the gradual arrival the sound of the engine
07:38
ringtones of the two large porticos positioning on the platform traveling to the ring porch 1 (near 02:30) then towards porch 2 siren polyphony the portico stops
Khalifa Port
08:05
aluminum factory in the distance powerful global rumor the small slaps of the plastic blades a door
02:53
opening a container the seal is cut then the two doors open content inspection 01:30 closing 02:17 another empty container is open
full container openinginspection of the contents
06:06
Powerful rumor at the bottom of a lighting pylon clamor of trucks, wind, construction equipment 01:40 helicopter 02:30 in the distance the sirens of the port
On an island of sandMangrove crabsa plane takes offmicrophones pointed into two crab holesthe crabs are very close (sometimes in touch)around the birds, far the city
on a beach of crabs, at dusk microphones pointed at a few cm from the ground, supported by roots the subtle crackling of crabs a slight stirring of the birds before the night far off the city as a static gray mass 03:00 of the votes 04:50 call to prayer 06:40 a bird shows up, tries to get away 13:10 he settles 10:50a bird runs away screaming 15:00first intermittent insect
landscape with birds and flying objects 01:25 surprising stop of a continuous medium engine 01:45 a helicopter passes in the distance a bird protests then a second bigger one that disappears