Liquid Architecture is working in partnership with ACCA and Melbourne Festival to present a live performance and a writers residency as part of the exhibition Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act.

Curated by Annika Kristensen, this is the first solo exhibition in Australia by acclaimed London-based artist Haroon Mirza, bringing new commissions into dialogue with re-presentations of recent work to provide a choreographed experience of the artist’s diverse interests and applications across the last decade. Exhibition open 14 Sep–17 Nov 2019.

Haroon Mirza’s extensive and varied art practice – encompassing sculptural assemblage, immersive installation and live performance – has its origin in music; in the rhythm, syncopation and sampling techniques informed by the artist’s experience as a DJ. Mirza likens his methodology to that of a composer, arranging both the aesthetic and acoustic properties of materials and space into new audible, visual and haptic forms. Continuing the analogy of the artist as composer, Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act has been conceived as if the gallery was itself an instrument, with the exhibition forming an overall score.

As part of the exhibition a studio has been constructed in the gallery to host a series of weeklong residencies in composition, music and dance, culminating in a live performance. Loosely structured on the Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, Mirza has scripted a science fiction narrative – with references to nature, artificial intelligence, psychedelic substances and the healing potential of song – as a provocation for each resident. Through the residencies this script will be transformed into a piece by composer James Rushford; with musicians Jessica Aszodi (soprano), Alexander Garsden (guitar) and Freya Schack-Arnott (cello); and interpreted into movement by choreographer Julie Cunningham, working with dancer Chess Boughey.

On Tuesday 8 October at 6.30pm, and 8.00pm, a live public performance will bring together the outcomes of these three residencies for the first and only time. Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act thus opens as a studio and a stage set for action: the nature of which will be revealed in the process of its eventual enacting.

In addition to the performance, from Monday 7 – Friday 11 September, Chi Tran and Arben Dzika will undertake a residency commissioned by Liquid Architecture to produce new writing in response to Mirza’s work, to be published in Disclaimer.

RESIDENCIES

Tue, 17–Sat, 21. Sep 2019

Composer
James Rushford

Tue, 24–Thu, 28. Sep 2019

Musicians
Jessica Aszodi, Alexander Garsden,
James Rushford and Freya Schack-Arnott

Tue, 01–Sat, 05 Oct 2019

Choreographer and Dancer
Julie Cunningham and Chess Boughey

Mon, 07–Fri, 11. Sep 2019

Writers
Chi Tran and Arben Dzika
Commissioned by Liquid Architecture for Disclaimer