Haroon Mirza

Fuzhipin of Pavilion for Optimisation

2019

Pavilion for Optimisation is an architectural structure designed to create the most amount of reverberation possible: no two walls are symmetrical or parallel. In some ways, this is a counterpoint to Mirza's anechoic chamber 'The national apavilion of then and now' for which he was awarded the Silver Lion Award in Venice 2011, where sound was deadened to create no echo. The strip of white LEDs light up for a brief interval, enough to allow the viewer to see a strange domestic glass object positioned on the floor. This is a home made ant farm. Mirza always envisaged an ant farm inside this chamber: he's fascinated by ant colonies and their social structures. He sees parallels between the movement of ants and the movement of water: the minuscule pitter patter of their feet, amplified through the sound system is strangely similar to water striking a surface. There is also a formal / functional perfection to an ant that fascinates him, particularly the way that ants constantly echo one another in their singular pursuit to work for the queen. And there is a distant but palpable relationship between the physical form of an ant and the binary coding of circuits which lies unseen at the heart of his installations. Clap your hands in the chamber and you'll hear an echo that goes beyond the small confines of the room. A white speaker hangs in a corner and plays back the live feed of a shower, combined with movement of the ants across the copper plate located within their home.

Medium

Reverberation chamber, LEDs, speaker, amp, zone mixer, Arduino, water, bin, water pump, shower head, mic, mic stand

Dimensions

Variable size

Credit

Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery