Tarek Atoui's 'Waters' Witness' at Serralves

Tarek Atoui's first exhibition in Portugal, 'Waters' Witness,' opens at Serralves in Porto. The show is part of his ongoing I/E project, initiated in 2015, which records sounds of port cities including Athens, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Beirut, and Porto. Atoui collaborates with artist and recordist Eric La Casa to capture sounds below the sea surface and within materials like metal, stone, and wood. In the exhibition, audio recordings from Athens, Abu Dhabi, and Porto are played through site-specific materials: marble blocks from Athens, steel beams from Abu Dhabi, and wooden structures housing compost, worms, and organic material produced for Serralves. The work explores an acoustic ecology of decomposing organic matter, extending sound constellations from the museum's central room into the park through performances, workshops, and educational activities. The exhibition was produced by Museum Fridericianum in Kassel, Serralves in Porto, and MUDAM in Luxembourg, curated by Filipa Loureiro with support from Galeria Chantal Crousel, Paris.