Haroon Mirza: A Chamber for Horwitz; Sonakinatography Transcriptions in Surround Sound
François Ghebaly is pleased to present a project with Haroon Mirza titled, A Chamber for Horwitz: Sonakinatography Transcriptions in Surround Sound. Originally shown at Museum Tinguely, in Basel, Switzerland, this is the first time this piece will be exhibited in the United States. A Chamber for Horwitz: Sonakinatography Transcriptions in Surround Sound was created for Haroon Mirza / hrm 199 LTD, an exhibition focusing on the collaborative nature of his practice, further expounded by titling the show after his studio and company name, hrm 199 LTD. An exhibition of works by Channa Horwitz, whose existing work was contributed to Museum Tinguely for this particular project, will be presented in the following two weeks and will run concurrently; a joint public reception will be held on February 13, 2016.
Isolated in a square chamber at the entrance of the gallery, Horwitz’ seminal work, Sonakinatography Composition III is transcribed through Mirza’s audio-visual coding of eight LED structures that oscillate through the original Sonakinatography spectrum and their respective sonic frequencies. While in the past Mirza has composed his light installations, here the score directly transcribes Horwitz’ composition, originating nearly five decades ago. Stacks of carefully arranged acoustical foam blocks line the walls to contain the sound of the orchestrated LED lights, humming in different octaves as they shift in color. Hanging adjacent to the entrance of the chamber, Horwitz’ Sonakinatography Composition III offers a two-dimensional score to read and align with its LED transcription inside.
The relationship between the work of Mirza and Horwitz moves beyond an interest in coded systems and performing the spectrum of color, sound, and spatial orientation. Each leaves some element of chance to play into their compositions. Mirza through the unpredictability of electricity and its ‘live’ qualities and Horwitz by employing structure and rules as a means to finding the inherent chance within a running system. Their shared interest in developing self-governing processes is differentiated by the method of execution. While Horwitz was the hand for these systems to be visualized, Mirza develops digitally coded structures to play out his compositions.
Haroon Mirza, born in London in 1977, has held solo exhibitions at Nam June Paik Art Center, Korea; Matadero, Madrid, Spain; Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland (2015); Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland (2014); Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, Poissy, France (2014); IMMA, Dublin, Ireland (2014); Le Grand Palais, Saint-Nazaire, France (2014); The Hepworth, Wakefield, UK (2013); MIMA, Middlesbrough, UK (2013); The New Museum, New York, USA (2012); Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland (2012); University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, USA (2012); Camden Arts Centre, London, UK (2011) and AFoundation, Liverpool, UK (2009). His work was included in the 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, China (2012) and the 54th Venice Biennale, Italy (2011), where he was awarded the Silver Lion. He was awarded the Northern Art Prize in 2011, the DAIWA Foundation Art Prize in 2012, the Nam June Paik Art Center Prize 2014, and the Zurich Art Prize 2014.
