FEDERICA ZAMBELETTI / KOOZ Improvisation in 10 Days alludes to the time taken to mount the installation while also paying homage to the notion of improvisation. How do you approach improvisation in your practice?

TAREK ATOUI Improvisation is central to my work. I started with it when I first began playing music, collaborating with free jazz musicians and exploring how to use computers and electronics in the same way one would play a drum, saxophone, or any acoustic instrument. From there, I collaborated with a lot of musicians who come from contemporary music and whose practice really revolves around what we call improv music. This approach became essential for generating materials, ideas, and moments of exchange — with musicians, students, and diverse publics. For me, improvisation is liberating; it frees the imagination, the body, and gestures, allowing for spontaneous and genuine expression. Ideas for installations, instruments, and spatial compositions stem in a very anchored and solid way with time.

KOOZ The exhibition is both site-specific and an assembly of works you have been developing for over ten years. How does the installation draw upon your longstanding research into sound while also responding and adapting to the industrial nature of HangarBicocca?

TAThe exhibition builds upon three major bodies of work. It follows as a sequel to exhibitions in Bregenz and previously at S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium. In Bregenz, at the Kunsthaus, we presented these three bodies of work, each occupying an entire floor of Peter Zumthor’s museum in a vertical arrangement. For HangarBicocca, we brought these three works with all their characteristics and introduced the idea of improvisation. Given the space of the Shed, my approach was to see Hangar as a single horizontal plane — a kind of playground or even a white canvas, where all these elements could sit harmoniously. The installation was conceived not only from a horizontal perspective but also in relation to acoustics, the shifting light within the space, and the way the venue engaged in dialogue with both the exterior and the visitors inside.

KOOZ Using custom-built electronic instruments and computers, as well as incorporating the ready-made, your compositions merge the abstract and digital world of programming with the tangible materiality of marble, bronze, and other metals. What is the potential of making these two worlds collide? What does it mean to engage with the materiality of sound?

TA The potential in combining ready-made electronic instruments, computers, the digital and the analog, the tangible and the intangible is, in many ways, a reflection of today’s world. But before that, it is a reflection of my own personal journey. I came from digital technology — this was how, at the age of twenty, I first learned about sound. Through computers and digital tools, I grasped music, composition, field recording, and the manipulation of sonic material.

Then, in my case, there was a kind of reverse engineering — a journey backward in time. From understanding digital technology, I moved to electronic analogue systems, and from there, I delved into ancestral acoustic principles and the craft of instrument-making. This exploration led me to work with various materials — wood, metal, glass — and ultimately, to focus on the properties of the materials themselves.

Today, my work is about closing this loop, acknowledging all these influences and the trajectory I have taken over the years. For me, the digital, the analogue, the old, and the new exist in dialogue, each equally contributing to a singular sonic body and forming a cohesive composition — whether within an exhibition or the space I am working on.

KOOZ As with many of your works, Improvisation in 10 Days engages audiences in acts of listening that extend beyond the ear, engaging the whole body and other senses. To what extent do you see the visitor’s agency influencing the installation, and how does this interaction shape the overall experience for each individual? What is the potential of engaging in sonic perceptions that displace listening from its phonocentric history?

TA The visitor’s agency is considerable because they are the receiver and, in many ways, the central element of the work. The installation has no single focal point or fixed dimension — no defined "sweet spot," as we call it in acoustics, where sound is perceived optimally. Instead, there are multiple focal points, with every element in the exhibition functioning as one.

This makes the visitor’s presence and movement essential. Their navigation through the space actively shapes the listening experience. The choice of where to sit — on a stone, near an instrument, on a bench, or inside the Wind House — determines how the work is perceived and appreciated. This creates an experience that is both very intimate and personal.

The unique quality of sound — its beauty — is its ability to operate on two levels simultaneously. It is collective, enveloping everyone in a shared sonic environment, yet also deeply individual, as each person receives different images, emotions, and sensations from the same sound. The absence of a single focal point and the multiplicity of sonic experiences — whether auditory, tactile, or visual — expand the visitor’s perception, enriching both their imagination and sensory engagement with the project.

KOOZ The first group of works, WITHIN, explores listening as a reinterpretation of musical sound as a language of learning. In what ways does this practice engage with the democratisation of sound and notions of accessibility?

TAI started art and music at the age of twenty. Growing up in Lebanon, I had no formal artistic education, apart from a love of literature, theatre, and poetry, which I read extensively in my youth. When I discovered sound, it was transformative — it opened doors I had never imagined, allowing me to work with concepts, travel, and connect with artists and musicians I respected and admired. I deeply believe in the power of sound and its capacity to change lives, and I wanted to share that with others who, like me, had not had access to an education in the arts or sound.

As early as 2004, I chose to work in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, leading workshops with children on advanced sound techniques. This experience made education central to my practice — it was incredibly rewarding to share knowledge and create meaningful moments with people who genuinely appreciated them. Over time, I expanded this work to other parts of the Arab world, as well as the U.S., China, and Cambodia, broadening my scope of engagement. I improvised with different audiences, sharing tools, techniques, and a sensibility toward sound.

This desire to share led to WITHIN. The project was not just about bringing sound to those who do not perceive it through hearing but about learning from deaf individuals as well. From the beginning, my approach was not to treat deaf audiences as recipients of accessibility initiatives but as experts in sound — people who engage with vibration and the physicality of sound through other senses and developed abilities.

WITHIN marked a turning point in my thinking. It reinforced the idea that those I work with — whether deaf audiences, children in The Whisperers, or percussionists from the Atlas — are not just participants but experts with knowledge I can learn from. For me, true democratisation of sound is about reciprocity — giving and receiving in equal measure. A meaningful sharing experience, a democratic experience, is not just about transmitting knowledge but about creating a balanced exchange, where everyone involved appreciates, contributes to and creates a very special moment for all those who are part of it.

Bios

Tarek Atoui is an artist and electroacoustic composer, working within the realm of sound performance and composition. His work often revolves around large-scale, collaborative performances that develop from extensive research into music history and instrumentation, while exploring new methods of production. Using custom-built electronic instruments and computers, Atoui references current social and political realities, revealing music and new technologies as powerful aspects of expression and identity. Atoui has exhibited at great many major institutions including, most recently, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan & Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Madrid (2025); Kunsthaus Bregenz & Cukrana Gallery, Ljubjana (2024); S.M.A.K, Ghent (2024).

Federica Zambeletti is the founder and creative director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and storyteller whose interests lie at the intersection of art, architecture and regenerative practices. Prior to dedicating her full attention to KoozArch in 2024, Federica collaborated with the architecture studio and non-profit agency for change UNA/UNLESS working on numerous cultural projects and the research of "Antarctic Resolution"