Visitors to Witte de With will also find three radios playing a program of songs inspired by Afif’s sculptures. Their introductions are scripted by Afif and read aloud in the style of a popular radio DJ, citing the technical specifications of the work, the author of the lyrics and the composer of the song. This radio program will be recorded live during the opening and broadcast in a loop from the roof of a neighbouring building to the surrounding area for the duration of the exhibition at FM 107.5 Mhz.
Afif’s work vibrates with multiple meanings and reveals a fascination with music and music culture. His sculptures often adopt the forms of microphones, amplifiers, speakers, of musical instruments and their decorative finishes. And many of his works include music as an active ingredient. Another recurring element in Afif’s oeuvre is the passing of time, sometimes represented through a vanitas trope (particularly the image of a skull), or through the use of clocks as part of his formal vocabulary.
Afif’s generous and dialogical approach to the creation – and mediation – of art explores the relationship between the original and the reproduction. At Witte de With, in dialogue with the curators, Afif takes this process of translating his work a step further, by reworking for the first time his own sculptures and installations. Additionally, broadcasting the radio show will create an alternative space and time frame in which to experience his works. In this way, the exhibition Technical Specifications represents an implosion and explosion of Afif’s practice, as he simultaneously reduces his own works to the sum of their parts and opens them up to new authors, new readings, new formats and new audiences beyond the institution’s walls.
Curated by: Nicolaus Schafhausen and Zoë Gray.
The opening of the exhibition will take place on the 12th of June at 18.00. At 19.00 Saâdane Afif will go in conversation with Sam Steverlynck (Gonzo magazine).