By Ariane Königshof & Amjad Al-Mestarihy
The current situation feels uncertain for people all over the world and the nescience of what is going on has impacted our souls. Forced to live in isolation, we started to reflect about the meaning of distance and proximity. Physical distance is a parameter of how close objects and/or human beings can get to each other, yet, physical proximity can at the same time be perceived as distant because the real touch might be more related to inner feelings that are not reachable through physical touch. In our digital project we focus on audio and visual structures and how touch might occur and be perceived in different ways.
We collected ordinary sounds from people all over the world who recorded sounds they produced with an object from their home. Amjad mixed a special rhythm / music out of these different sounds. The rythm is repetitive and creates a kind of ritual, which can be seen as a healing process in times of crisis that brings people together and helps to cope with a situation of nescience. Ariane visualized the rythms through a stop motion video that she created through her paintings. It copes with the feeling of nescience, showing processes of loosing our body, of trying to reassemble the different parts again. It also analyzes the space inbetween and a continous search for a special rythm/ a balance in life.
The title of the project mamarrat is arabic and means corridors. We chose that title because of what it symbolizes. A corridor is a long path that is usually pretty narrow and implicates physical distance in lenghts but proximity in width. The light at the end of the tunnel stands for an inner relief whereas the closeness of width can cause trepidation. A corridor also has plenty of doors and is therefore a place of decisions. People also enter and cross your way - connecting different paths.
