Haroon Mirza

Haroon Mirza, Pathology in Three Parts (film still), 2021

Haroon Mirza, Pathology in Three Parts (film still), 2021

Haroon Mirza, Pathology in Three Parts (film still), 2021

Haroon Mirza prepares for live performance of The Three /\/\/’s (2021) at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial. Photography: Callum Mills

Haroon Mirza prepares for live performance of The Three /\/\/’s (2021) at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial. Photography: Callum Mills

Haroon Mirza, The Three /\/\/’s, 2021. Live performance at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Callum Mills

Haroon Mirza, The Three /\/\/’s, 2021. Live performance at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Callum Mills

Haroon Mirza, The Three /\/\/’s, 2021. Live performance at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Callum Mills

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Haroon Mirza (b. 1977, London, UK) lives and works in London, UK. Mirza’s work tests the interplay and friction between sound and light waves and electric current. He devises sculptures, performances and immersive installations that pry on one’s awareness of their own experience. An advocate of interference, he creates situations that purposefully cross wires. He describes his role as a composer, manipulating his primary medium, electricity, a live, invisible and volatile natural phenomenon. Mirza asks us to reconsider the perceptual distinctions between noise, sound and music, and draws into question the categorisation of cultural forms. Recent exhibitions include Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Australia (2019); John Hansard Gallery, UK (2019); Sifang Art Museum, China (2019); and Ikon, UK (2018).

Project Description

Haroon Mirza’s presentation for Liverpool Biennial 2021 comprised of two elements: a three-part video work, Pathology in Three Parts (2021) and a new choral performance The Three /\/\/’s (2021).

The Three /\/\/’s (2021) explores social gatherings and ritual and is informed by the Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio – a mathematical phenomenon visible throughout nature and often applied in classical art. This performance, featuring Liverpool based singers, was documented with the resulting footage forming the central element of the new three-part video work. In collaboration with Mirza, Jennifer John led the ensemble of composers and performers made up of Anne Taft, Emma Bispham, Jennifer John, Steve Boyland and Tayo Aluko in order to evolve the vocal interpretations of the ritual.

Pathology in Three Parts (2021) follows Mirza’s “modular opera” structure, and features two scenes or “acts” from a previous iteration, Construction of an Act (2019), either side of this new performative element. As new acts join the repertoire, the narrative, based around a shaman who uses her voice to heal, unfolds exploring ideas of sound, medicine and mystical experience. Both works ask us to consider the sociological and physiological properties of the human voice, and explores Mirza's interest in systems of belief, waveforms and patterns of movement.

Pathology in Three Parts (2021), features on Mirza’s latest album released in digital format on the TAKUROKU label as part of a collaboration with Café OTO. The album was released on 21 May 2021.

Featuring material commissioned by the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art for the Melbourne International Festival (2019).

Pathology in Three Parts (2021) vocal performance by Sarah-Jane Lewis. The Three /\/\/’s (2021) features performances by Anne Taft, Emma Bispham, Jennifer John, Steve Boyland and Tayo Aluko.

Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, with support from Open Culture.

The work premiered as part of LightNight 2021: Play

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