energy/power | haroon mirza

British-Pakistani artist Haroon Mirza (*1977 in London, UK) views himself as a composer and utilizes sound, video, electronic circuits and everyday objects to develop a complex body of work in which he examines the function of the components used while changing the significance of their cultural and social code. Mirza challenges the categorization of artistic expression with his strong collaborative approach and draws on diverse scientific, historical, art historical, pop cultural as well as spiritual influences.
In his multi-sensory installations, he explores the interplay and dissonance between sound, light and electricity, challenging the viewers to abandon their individual perception of noise, sound and music. He forces the viewer to evaluate the relationship between the elements and the surrounding space to be experienced in an unusual way. In doing so, he formally refers to fundamental strategies of minimal art and allows for contemporary technologies to merge with environmental issues.

Further information on the individual works can be found by clicking on the images.


DRAF Evening of Performances, Ministry of Sound London (2019) | Photo: Jun Yoko Yana 

All Photos: Dirk Tacke or Milena Wojhan | unless otherwise stated 

Dyson Sphere (2022) is a multi-sensory installation in which Haroon Mirza creates his own ecosystem of energy and sound, making references between technology, nature, man and the universe that relate to current socio-political issues. The artist developed the multi-layered work for lille3000's UTOPIA Festival, taking up physicist Freeman Dyson's idea - which in turn goes back to the little-known science fiction novel "Starmaker" (1937) by Olaf Stapledon - that in the future, through technological advancement, a star can be enclosed with a collection of solar panels to store its vast reserves of energy and make it usable for humans.

The center of the presentation is an expansive octagonal structure enclosing inward-facing solar panels that, like a tank, encircle a free-hanging chandelier with octagonally placed halogen lamps, which light up in a specific sequence. The rays are absorbed by the respective opposing solar panels and the generated energy is subsequently transmitted to surrounding components. Fragments of light penetrate the exhibition space, hinting at the happenings inside.

A hazy sound, coupled with rhythm emanating from two drums wafts through the space. These are activated by a mechanism connected to the circuit, mimicking a shamanic ritual; powered by technology. The sound emanates from integrated speakers in the stones forming a circle. These are connected to the Dyson Sphere and cyclically emit sounds in harmony with the absorbed light. The stone circle reinforces the mystical component of the installation, referencing megalithic cult sites of the Stone Age.

"I was working with solar panels and then kind of acknowledged that all these Megalithic monuments from the Neolithic period are based around the movement of the sun and the moon or other celestial objects. I immediately made the connection to the works with solar panels that I was making which also inherently rely on the movement of the sun."

– Haroon Mirza

Haroon Mirza, Stone Circle (2018) | Commissioned by Ballroom Marfa | Photo: Rowdy Lee Dugan

The multimedia installation The Wave Epoch incorporates references from club culture, future archaeology, central belief systems as well as social rituals and was developed as a collaboration between Haroon Mirza and Jack Jelfs with musicians GAIKA and Elijha as part of the Collide Residency at the European Organization for Nuclear Research Center CERN, Geneva. The core question of this immersive work cycle, which includes archival footage, artifacts and electronic components from previous experiments at CERN, is as following: if the Large Hadron Collider (particle accelerator) were to be unearthed a few thousand years in the future and if its original purpose had been forgotten, how would people archaeologically interpret it?

By combining Wave Chandelier (2021) with the audio-visual work Wave Epoch, a multi-layered multimedia installation is created: the coordinated composition of image, music and light that intertwines references between technology, nature, people and the universe.

The curved lines of a bundle of hanging red and black cables are reminiscent of antique chandeliers, spread out from the star-shaped centre. The impression is intensified by prismatic crystal spheres hanging from the cables themselves like water drops. Haroon Mirza combines ritual and technology by referencing patterns and shapes from ancient mandalas and combining them with technoid elements. In Wave Chandelier, the outer floral form meets intersects with the star in the center and forms a geometric diagram that, like the original mandala as an object for meditation, triggers a physical-sensory effect through the pulsating light.

The work cycle The Wave Epoch has been realized in various independent work versions since 2018, for example as a music album, as a performance at the Brighton Festival and at the London club Ministry of Sound, or as multimedia installations.