Waters' Witness

The work is based on the study and sound recordings carried out by Tarek Atoui in collaboration with Eric La Casa and Chris Watson. Their aim was to document the human, ecological, historical, and industrial contexts of various coastal cities - Athens, Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Istanbul, Porto, Singapore, and Sydney - whose economic and social life is closely tied to their ports.

Working close to the water or directly underwater, Atoui employs various recording techniques applied to materials such as metal, stone, and wood to capture the sounds of the sea and port activities. These recordings come together in the installation, Waters’ Witness, where they are combined with the noise of dripping water, used as a sonic element within the sculptures. The concept of stratification is central to Atoui’s work and manifests in multiple aspects. For example, the use of marble blocks is significant not only for their acoustic and reverberative properties but also for their symbolic value as a material associated with the origins of classical Western art.

The first iteration of Waters’ Witness took place at Fridericianum in Kassel (2020), where the first two I/E harbors - Athens (2015) and Abu Dhabi (2017) - merged for the first time in an exhibition. These two atmospheres are perceptible within the installation, represented through materials collected from these port cities - marble blocks from Athens and steel beams from Abu Dhabi - which function both as landscape features and as sound-transmitting elements that visitors can interact with through touch.

For the second iteration of Waters’ Witness, presented at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art (2022), Atoui designed a set of wooden containers for plant compost. These were inspired by Leixões, Porto, where the artist observed piles of materials and industrial waste awaiting export. The installation integrates residual and random organic sounds, continuously transforming in real time throughout the exhibition. Additional elements have expanded the project, including new marble sculptures crafted by Lebanese artisans. These sculptures were originally produced near Beirut’s harbor before the devastating explosion of August 4, 2020. Their presence in the exhibition serves as a physical trace of something that no longer exists. These sculptures were also used in a series of performances in Beirut, organized by the non-profit Ashkal Alwan, featuring Atoui, Eric La Casa, drummer Akram Hajj, and a group of Deaf students from the Orphan Welfare Society in Saida, Lebanon.

At MCA Australia (2023), Atoui wascommissioned to create new sculptures using Sydney sandstone, which have been equipped with a sound system. The sculptures were inspired by the cohabitational zones Atoui witnessed along Sydney’s shorelines in March 2023, where he recorded sounds of Sydney Harbour and the Port Botany. Between September 2024 and January 2025, Waters' Witness was exhibited at Kunsthaus Bregenz. Then, the piece was revisited and reworked by the artist in the frame of his exhibition Improvisation in 10 days that took place at Hangar Bicocca (Milan) in 2025.

In 2026, Waters' Witness was presented at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, as part of the museum's fifteenth anniversary. On this occasion, the project opened a new chapter focused on Qatar's coastline and its communities, extending Atoui's listening of port cities to the Qatari shores.