Hiwa K Gallery Responses

The Hiwa K exhibit was a lot to take in. Each piece was unique and used its own play on sound and visual elements. The piece that really stuck out to me though was Blind as the Mother Tongue. In this piece, the video shows him on the path he took as a refugee from his home to Europe. There is not sound in the video, so the focus is on his narration that was loud, but seemed distant. The meaning behind this piece was very hard for me to decipher and I am sure my ideas are different than what his intention was. To me, the meaning is that on his journey, he only had an unclear or distorted of where he was headed. This was the function of the mirrors. When he balanced it on his nose, his only view ahead was through the small mirrors. The absence of sound was another aspect to show uncertainty about the journey ahead because it stripped the viewer of one of their senses. Even through uncertainty, Blind as the Mother Tongue shows you can’t let it stop you from reaching your final destination.

While all of Hiwa K’s work was unique and thought-provoking, it was Pre-Image (Blind As The Mother Tongue) that really intrigued me. The movie is about Hiwa K attempting to get from Greece to Italy on his journey as a migrating refugee. Balancing a long pole with mirrors aimed in different directions on his face, he slowly walks through the countryside, through woods, through a train stop, and through a refugee camp. There is no sound but his narration of the events that happened to him as a refugee. While he walks he speaks about Narcissus. Given how much his mirrors impede his movement one could guess that the theme of the piece is how narcissism impedes people from moving through life. However, that lesson seems too trivial given the situation he is in. I can’t find a satisfying interpretation of the piece online anywhere and there were no descriptors about it in the exhibition. The best explanation I’ve found was by Ania Szremski in Art Agenda. She calls the piece an “aggravated effort for nothing”. The time and energy he spends balancing while walking so so slowly conveys the feeling of hopelessness Hiwa K experienced as a refugee. Even though every move he made felt useless and unacknowledged, he kept moving forward anyways.

I spent the first 15 minutes or so of our visit to the gallery browsing through each of Hiwa K’s works, but soon I found myself to be captivated by The Bell Project, which stood out to me physically because of its size and position occupying 2 walls. In addition, this piece was the most ambient out of all the others because of the auditory and visual power of its display. I discovered that The Bell Project, not unlike Hiwa K’s other pieces, seemed to be rooted in the process by which it was created, rather than the final result. I was deeply intrigued by the nature of the production of the bell, which juxtaposed the opposing forces of destruction and creation. I believe that Hiwa K’s purpose is to instill a sense of optimism in his audience by showing that there can be beauty found in transforming objects and places that have been plagued by darkness.

The exhibitions that I managed to watch from start to finish were the bell project and For A Few Socks of Marbles. While the former is truly mesmerizing, the latter provides me insights into the artist’s multi-cultural childhood background and his unique ways to deal with the complications. The process to make the perfect marble ball is repetitive but very rewarding, the kids would say. When artist himself was a kid, he would make the marbles as do the other kids in his Kurdish neighborhood. What makes the difference is that he managed to convince the Kurdish kids to play the Arab way of marble game, resulting in his grand triumph. The sounds it makes when children hit the stone is repetitive and each one of them similar. However, the more people hear it, the more distinguished the difference between each sound. From the flick of the wrist, the different angle the kids hit, and the strength needed to perfect different surface, produce the most harmonic, unique soundscape.

The Hiwa K gallery’s use of sound and visual tools particularly interested me during our visit. Perhaps most noticeable as one enters the exhibition is the dual screen display showing the melting of the shell and the molding of the bell in the corner of the room. The screens’ playing of videos that were slightly out of loop with one another, drew my attention to the screen. Moreover, the relatively large length and width of the screen and its placement in corner of the room allowed for full immersion into the videos being played. This particular exhibit was also the only one to not require the use of headphones, meaning that its sound echoed throughout the room, drawing onlookers to its location. Other visual exhibits such as the one displaying the Kurdish protests could have drawn attention away from the primary exhibit had headphones not been used. The use of headphones for the exhibits without a visual component emphasized the phonetic elements of those exhibits.

I enjoyed our class visit to the Hiwa K Gallery. During the visit, I spent my time roaming through the gallery, trying to experience all of the pieces. I was intrigued by the variety of work that came together to form this collection. Each digital piece was unique from the previous one I had experienced, which kept me captivated and wondering what I would be watching and hearing next as I wandered through the gallery. I started with “This Lemon Tastes of Apple” which was an overwhelming abundance of sound with a man protesting in the streets and Hiwa K playing a harmonica. I think this experience was enhanced with the headphones because I felt like I was a part of the protest and in the streets because I was completely immersed in the sounds of the situation. It started giving me a headache so I made my way to “Cooking with Mama.” This was focused on Hiwa K cooking Kurdish meals with friends in Germany, meanwhile his mom, who had not seen in four years, was on a Skype call. I wish I had taken the opportunity to experience the event in Commons earlier this year because I feel a deeper understanding for the event after experiencing this piece. As I continued through the gallery, I listened to narrations, experienced Hiwa K dancing in an abandoned prison, and heard the clinking of tools. I felt immersed with the pieces while experiencing them and enjoyed the experience with sound.

The pieces in Hiwa K’s exhibit had varying effects on me. I felt the most drawn by the dual screen shell-melting and bell-making video that was playing in the back right corner of the exhibit. I think that it had the most mesmerizing effect on me because it was the only piece without headphones and also the one with the largest screens devoted to it. After reading the soundscape articles in preparation of viewing the exhibit, I went into the exhibit looking to identify the sonic elements that made up the exhibit’s soundscape. The aforementioned video dominated it, while the shuffling of others’ footsteps and whispers of comments on the accompanying pieces also made up part of it. I think that it would have been interesting to hear the exhibit before the video in the back left room was relegated to headphone status. Hearing the two videos together competing for the dominant place in the soundscape would have interesting.

The Hiwa K art gallery offered many different auditory displays that each had a different cultural background. I spent most of my time watching “This Lemon tastes of Apple” by Hiwa K. It depicts the author and his friend in the middle of a street protest in 2011. The two men walk up and down the streets of a foreign country playing the harmonica and guitar through a megaphone. The shouts of men in distress as well as watching the state people were living in, had a big impact on me. The cultural difference between my life and the lives of the people in the video are very different, giving me a sense of gratitude. Wounded men were being carried away after being shot, showing the chaoticness and barbarity of their living conditions. The headphones in this exhibit allowed me to feel as if I was in their place, experiencing what Hiwa K was going through. I could clearly focus on the gunshots as well as men and women screaming for help. In the middle of this horrific protest, Hiwa K still managed to play his instrument, rallying the people around him. Men began to follow him and support them in the fight through the power of music. I never realized how the noise from instrument can have such a strong effect on people in a situation like a violent protest.

I really enjoyed the Hiwa K exhibit. Having been told at the beginning of the experience that he considered himself to primarily be a musician really contextualized the work in the gallery. I spent most of my time focusing on the bell video displayed in the corner of the room with dual projections. What I found to be notable in this exhibit was the duality of it. Obviously there were two different videos being displayed at once, taking place in two different locations (Iraq and Italy). However, the two audio tracks from the videos were played simultaneously. Additionally, although there were two separate videos and audio tracks, they were both part of the same story. I really enjoyed noticing the intersection between these two parts. I spent a lot of my time watching the video taking place in Iraq, however, I would sometimes be drawn away by sounds coming from the video taking place in Italy. This at first acted as a distraction from my singular focus, but then served as a reminder that both audio tracks and videos were telling the same story. I was constantly reminded of the common story and narrative, even with the separate components.

Hiwa K’s unique art, specifically “This Lemon Tastes of Apple,” expresses the powerful values that sound can carry, and the significance music has within every community. As the video follows the protest of 2011, initiated due to the desires of “bureaucratic transparency and equal access to the country’s wealth,” the viewer can understand the need for change within Sulaymaniyah along with the desperation presented by the protestors. In this time of hopelessness, Hiwa K and his friend enter “Hell” playing a harmonica and a guitar, amplifying their music through a megaphone. The attitudes of the individuals alter as if the music granted them with much-needed comfort. The “battle cry” proved to be very effective as a large group began to follow Hiwa and his friend, Daroon Othman. From the screams of terror and pain, to the soothing sounds of music, the video develops the horrifying events that took place on April 17, 2011, and the significance sound possessed within the protest.  

I spent most of my time at the exhibit watching the Bell Project on both screens. These films were mesmerizing; I couldn’t bring myself to move on to the other pieces, just because of how intriguing this project was. I was set on seeing how the massive bells turned out when completely finished and how the two screens connected. Using weapons to help create breathtaking bells is so interesting, so sitting down watching the process of this was amazing. Witnessing how hard these people work and the conditions they were in was also very eyeopening. Some said that they focused more on the left screen because more noice was coming from it, but I enjoyed switching from screen to screen, regardless of the volume. Watching these two different projections and offset timing of both films was something that I haven’t experienced before and kept me intrigued and wanting to watch more. It was fascinating to have the opportunity to experience this global artist’s work and learn more about something that I had previously no knowledge on.

The “This Lemon Tastes of Apple” video was the most powerful part of this exhibit for me and this is a memory that will resonate with me for a while. Hiwa K and his friend, Daroon Othman, displayed incredible courage in playing their own rendition of a battle song. Throughout the video, you can see the mutual respect the group receives from amplifying their music through the use of a megaphone in the streets from others participating in this 2011 protest. Along with the powerful sounds of the harmonica and the group handing out lemon wedges, the audience is able to see and listen to the progression of the protest. Listening to a recorded version of this event helps us to view and listen to these events from a broader perspective. The surround sound headphones in the gallery helped me hear and focus on various sounds at one time. From my listening experience, the harmonica was the most powerful sound. The tone that was set here gave me goosebumps in displaying the true ability that sound can have in igniting a sense of valiance in people. When Hiwa and Daroon approached other protestors in the street, many joined in the march without the need for either of the two men asking. The use of music here begins to show us the true power that sound alone can have on people.

W