I/E
2013 - ongoing

I/E is an archeology of sound, a research in the hidden sound layers of port cities. Sounds are captured at the seaside, from underwater or the underground world, in an attempt to locate and to understand the sonic identity of the places. The raw material gathered during these recordings is the starting point for an interpretation of the site: compositions and performances that extrapolate to the outside and re-project on the site the sounds of its own unapparent stories.

I/E was originally designed by Tarek Atoui as a sound studio, a listening space and a performance platform housed in a soundproof transport container. I/E has been thought of as a versatile tool for recording sound, playing and collaborating with a variety of musicians in ever-changing external contexts. In this process, agency and personal contribution are seized and detoured to create performances that have a unique physicality, sound quality and tension. The activation of I/E, the invited recordists and musicians, their collaborations and interrelations are defined according to the environment and the context the instrument is implemented in. Following Atoui’s methodology, each environment produces a unique score that becomes part of the instrument and basis for its future activations.