And Who Sees the Mystery

Video Essay
by Gilles Aubry,
Zouheir Atbane

In 1959 Paul Bowles recorded an ahwash music performance in the village Tafraout in Morocco. Following the repatriation in 2010 of the Paul Bowles Moroccan Music Collection from Washington DC to Tangier, Gilles Aubry and Zouheir Atbane undertook collaborative research on the reception of these recordings in today’s Morocco.

This film documents the authors’ residency in Tafraout. In exchange with local musicians, the artists deliver an interpretation of the return of these music recordings to their location of origin, including the documentation of listening sessions, discussions, and music sessions. The work examines the micro-politics of invisibility: Paul Bowles as an «invisible spectator»; the veil as a strategy of resistance during the French occupation of Morocco; the Pythagorean curtain of French acousmatic music.

Shot and produced by Gilles Aubry, 2013.
27'01'', HD video

World premiere at ESAV Marrakesh, as part of the exhibition Why Ain’t You Rich if You’re so Smart, 2014.

This video is part of the Norient Online Special Sawt, Bodies, Species, a joint publication with adocs, extending Gilles Aubry’s physical book Sawt, Bodies, Species: Sonic Pluralism in Morocco into a digital publication with additional video and audio materials. The Open Access publication of this book was made possible with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Biography

Gilles Aubry is an artist, musician, and researcher based in Lausanne and Berlin. He creates installations, films, performances, and radio pieces which explore the cultural, ecological and affective dimensions of sound and listening. He has an MA in sonic arts from the Berlin University of the Arts (UDK) and recently completed a doctoral thesis on sound, aurality, and ecological voices in Morocco. His works have been presented in numerous international festivals and art institutions, including the Marrakech Biennale (2014), documenta_14 in Kassel (2017), and Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid (2020). Follow him on Instagram, and on his Website.

Biography

Zouheir Atbane, born 1983 in Casablanca, is a contemporary dancer and sound artist. Starting with the study of Gnawa music, Zouheir’s art practice has developed through his numerous collaborations with Casablanca based dance company 2k_far and other artists. He now works as a freelance sound artist. Follow him on Instagram.

Published on May 04, 2023

Last updated on September 18, 2023

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Sawt, Bodies, Species

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