Ambisonic loudspeaker installation

Commissioned by National Science and Media Museum, exhibited as part of Above the Noise

Astamae, translated from Arabic means ‘to listen attentively, to harken, or to pay attention’. This work foregrounds listening as a practice that connects members of the Islamic faith. Drawing on the sonic experiences of a group of community members and a product of close collaboration with members of the Bradford Grand Mosque and local families, it guides the listener through elements of Bradford’s Islamic soundscape. It tracks devotional practices of sounding and listening – such as the Dhikr, recitation of the Quran, or Naaths – through the acoustic spaces within which they resonate: the mosque, the home and the car; and the technologies and media through which they propagate: azan radios, smartphone apps and live streams. Unfolding locally, on the level of the diaspora, and in relation to global centres of Islam, this sounding collage of acoustic spaces, technological media, and demographics is drawn together by common practices of sounding and listening.

 

images by Tim Smith