This experience was my first self-guided museum experience. I wanted to fully immerse myself in the artworks so I promised myself I will spend more time than usual observing the works.
My first encounter with the exhibition was a familiar sound. As part of the show, the curator chose to play chants extracted from the participating artists’ cultures. I was taken back by the familiar sound of the Muslim call to prayer, but this time -unlike back home- it wasn’t being played on its own. The convergence of the chants was unfamiliar to me, yet, something about it made me feel as though we were all one and it didn’t really matter where we came from or what we believe in.
The artists’ works held stories of history, many of which were unfamiliar to me and required me to read up about them which also made me feel like I was part of something bigger. One specific artwork stood out to me, a performance followed by an installation and a video of the process that examines historical trauma and disaster. “The Calling” by Ibrahim Quraishi is a documentation of exploded violins, it explores the ideological and physical forms of violence through the historical and cultural significance of the violins. The violins act as visual and audible objects representing both beauty and violence. The video of the process is presented in a grainy low tech format which mimics the media playback of CCTV footage which is broadcasted in the aftermath of disasters.
The Calling By Ibrahim Quraishi Installation
