Haroon Mirza’s things that make you go o-o-o-o

Artist Haroon Mirza works in design, kinetics, light, sound, architecture and mystery.

Haroon Mirza, exhibition view of Digital Switchover, 2012

Source: Photo Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gunnar Meier

Haroon Mirza, exhibition view of Digital Switchover, 2012

In a clever piece of marketing intrigue, we’ve not been told a lot about what his show, opening at London’s Lisson Gallery tomorrow will entail. But what we do know sounds rather brilliant. So the cliché goes, apparently we have to see (and hear) it for ourselves.

Haroon Mirza, exhibition view of Digital Switchover, 2012

Source: Photo Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gunnar Meier

Haroon Mirza, exhibition view of Digital Switchover, 2012

London-based Mirza’s work often combines found electrical appliances and objects with his own audio and light compositions to create mesmerising, site-specific compositions.

Haroon Mirza, exhibition view of Digital Switchover, 2012

Source: Photo Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gunnar Meier

Haroon Mirza, exhibition view of Digital Switchover, 2012

As seems to be a common thread in art and design projects at the moment, it’s an exploration in merging the analogue and the digital, we’re told.

Haroon Mirza, exhibition view of Digital Switchover, 2012

Source: Photo Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gunnar Meier

Haroon Mirza, exhibition view of Digital Switchover, 2012

The intriguingly titled new o-o-o-o show, with graphics by A Practice for Everyday Life, has seen Mirza collaborate with his architect brother Omar to create a new series of room-sized, synesthetic architectural installations.  The front space of the gallery will house a sound-proof ‘reverberation chamber’ that aims to create as much echo as possible, looking to form ‘an immersive and disorientating environment’, according to the gallery.

Haroon Mirza, Falling Rope, 2013. Installation view in SCAI THE BATHHOUSE.

Source: Photo Nobutada Omote, Sandwich

Haroon Mirza, Falling Rope, 2013. Installation view in SCAI THE BATHHOUSE.

A number of kinetic sculptures will also be on show, including an LED surround- sound sequencer. The piece will hang from the gallery ceiling, with a small red LED bicycle light forming the centerpiece of eight hanging cables, each holding a speaker. The light flashes intermittently, with signals transmitted to each speaker to create a disorientating wall of sound.

Haroon Mirza, Preoccupied Waveforms, 2013

Source: Courtesy the artist, New Museum New York. Photo Jesse Untracht.

Haroon Mirza, Preoccupied Waveforms, 2013

 For the show, and its many satellite elements, Mirza is working with the phenomenal Factory Floor, James Lavelle (of UNKLE fame) and Django Django drummer and producer Dave Maclean, aka Jellyman, who are all creating new tracks based on samples of the sounds that emerged during the creation of the show.

These will be featured on the o-o-o-o.co.uk website for people to download, and tracks from Jellyman, (which you can listen to here) and Factory Floor will also be available as physical records from the Vinyl Factory, as of tomorrow.

Installation View, Tatsuo Miyajima, Lisson Gallery 25 Nov 2009 - 16 Jan 2010
Installation View, Tatsuo Miyajima, Lisson Gallery 25 Nov 2009 – 16 Jan 2010

The London show is running concurrently with the Hepworth Wakefield gallery in Yorkshire.

A few months back, DW received an intriguing email from Mirza regarding a mysterious message he saw on TV in 1987, in which a woman from the future (from 2013, to be precise) discusses the time she’s living in. while the video work Mirza created about it doesn’t feature in the show, it’s a fascinating story which you can read more about on The Guardian.

 o-o-o-o  runs from 17 May ­ 29 June, 52-54 Bell St, London NW1

Start the discussionStart the discussion
  • Post a comment

Latest articles