Tarek Atoui, noise party

The IAC in Villeurbanne is hosting the first major French exhibition dedicated to the artist who, thanks to his quixotic works-instruments, makes sound a living material.

There are several ways to explore Tarek Atoui’s exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art (IAC) in Villeurbanne. As a stroller, letting yourself be surprised from one room to another by the sudden roar of a pipe winding along the ground like a boa or by the gentle sound of a drip on a cymbal. It doesn’t matter if one of these sound creations remains desperately silent or if the immense telescopic bagpipes operated by a small fan persist in blowing only when your back is turned. Tarek Atoui has programmed his instruments at regular intervals, but the secret of this tempo is known only to him. The exhibition is called “The Drift”, as one goes adrift.

A mysterious score

We can also want to explore it as a tinkerer, as a sound watchmaker, trying to understand why, how, and where this twisted electric wire will lead us, why these bubbles burst here and this organ shakes there. But then, you will have to have time, a visit booklet (the IAC refuses to lard its walls with explanatory labels) or, better, come at 4 p.m., from Wednesday to Sunday to be able to experience the works with the mediators.

It’s a concert, we warn at the entrance to the exhibition. But a random concert, a mysterious score. Percussion, friction, vibrations. A bone, like the arm of a record player, f