TBA21 and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza present Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq, an exhibition on view at the museum from February 18 to May 18, 2025. This is the first solo show in Madrid of internationally renowned artist Tarek Atoui. The exhibition is the result of the in-depth research that the Franco Lebanese musician and sound artist has been pursuing since 2022, exploring the rural artisanal and musical traditions of the Arab world and North Africa, and using sound and sonic artifacts to bring them closer to audiences.

This ambitious project has been commissioned from its inception by TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and is curated by Daniela Zyman, artistic director of TBA21. Developed over more than three years of research and exchanges between the artist and musicians and artisans of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, it generated an of traditional music, sounds, and artisanal objects from along ancient trade and pilgrimage routes.

The exhibition At-Tāriq—which means “the morning star” or “the nightcomer”—departs from the traditions of the Amazigh people (referred to as Berbers from a neocolonial perspective) to offer a deeper speculation on the notion of hospitality. Inspired by the night’s association with the unknown, At-Tāriq extends an invitation to engage with rural cultural and ecological legacies that resonate deeply in the contemporary world. Ultimately, the exhibition becomes a conduit for conversations about relationships, memory, identity, and the poetic act of listening.

Five listening stations inspired by majlis

The show’s innovative format transforms the gallery of the Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza into five majlis, traditional spaces of hospitality and welcome in Arab and Eastern homes. Atoui reimagines and deconstructs these majlis into sound installations, immersive spaces for listening and resting. Amazigh music is profoundly connected to craft and shapes both the cultural identity and means of subsistence of the Atlas Mountains. Each of the five listening stations consists of traditional musical instruments made by artisans from the region, as well as commissioned ceramic, textile, or stone objects, as well as kinetic sculptures and sound devices created especially by the artist.

Known for his experimental approach to music, Atoui amplifies the acoustic properties of bronze, textile, stone, ceramic, and other materials. The installation includes digital and analog instruments which the artist designed to perform the soundscape that can be heard throughout the exhibition. Tools like lasers, optical lenses, and tape loopers read sounds embedded in textiles, rocks, jewelry, and pottery. These objects vibrate, scrape surfaces, or move mechanically to rewrite this constantly mutating composition.

Soundscape

The show includes a composition that grew out of an artistic residency. Atoui did exhaustive archival work, collecting recordings of concerts, poems, and songs of the Amazigh people. During a residency in Córdoba in 2023 he used that material for an experimental compositional session with three other musicians: Ziúr (Berlin), Susie Ibarra (New York/Berlin), and Nancy Mounir (Cairo). The result is a piece that blends traditional Amazigh and Arab music with electronic music and contemporary improvisation, which explores the interactions between rural music and innovations in sound. The composition was first premiered at a concert in Córdoba in 2023. In At Tāriq, each listening station sonifies and performs one part of this soundscape. “The composition is heard at all five listening stations in At-Tāriq, but instead of playing on a multi-channel sound system like we’re used to, the drums, chairs, and kinetic ceiling sculptures make up the multi-channel system,” the artist explains.

Foto: Museo Nsacioanl Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. February 2025. TBA 21 - Lourdes Cabrera

The show thus offers audiences a visual and auditory experience that exceeds the bounds of sound art, creating a landscape that underscores the wealth of musical traditions in the Arab world and examines their ability to withstand social and political changes over time.

Tarek Atoui is an internationally renowned artist whose work has been shown at the 2019 Venice Biennale and institutions like Tate Modern, Bourse du Commerce - Pinault Collection in Paris, and the FLAG Art Foundation in New York. From February 6 to July 20, 2025, his Improvisation in 10 Days will be on view at Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan.

A show in constant activation

Throughout its three-month run, the exhibition will be constantly energized by a full program of activities, including nocturnal performative guided tours, concerts, lectures, and interactive workshops for students, families, and the general public. Prior to the opening of Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq, an introductory concert will be held at the Monde des Arts de la Parure in Marrakech on January 31, 2025, in connection with the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, where Atoui will join eight traditional musicians from the Atlas region to fuse oral tradition with electronic experimentation. Titled Echoes Forgotten Over Time, the concert will be repeated in Madrid on March 3, 2025, as part of the show’s public program during ARCOmadrid contemporary art fair. On this occasion, the concert will expand to include the three musicians who worked with Atoui during the artistic residency in Córdoba. The concert will be open to the public with free admission on a first-come, first-served basis.

A long-term research initiative

Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq is a long-term research project and exhibition by Franco Lebanese artist Tarek Atoui commissioned by TBA21. In its various iterations, At-Tāriq explores the geographical landscapes of the Arab world and the Tamazgha (the lands traditionally occupied by the Amazigh people), focusing on their rural artisanal and musical traditions. The project grew out of Atoui’s earlier investigations into musical styles and sounds associated with tarab, a form of Arab music known to induce states of ecstasy and trance. Atoui’s fascination with these traditions can be traced back to his project Revisiting Tarab (2010–13), which focused on the Arab music of the Renaissance and classical periods and produced with the collaboration of the AMAR Foundation in Lebanon, home to the largest collection of early twentieth-century Arab music recordings.

While working with AMAR, Atoui was able to dive into the vast repository of musical, poetic, and dance traditions preserved by tribes and villages from the Atlas Mountains to the Persian Gulf. In the course of his research, he realized the importance of rural musical traditions, like Amazigh music, and their powerful influence on religious, urban, and classical repertoires. Despite the political, technological, social transformations that have affected the region since the 1940s, Atoui noticed that these rural customs had resisted change, serving as anchors of indigenous identity.

The project draws attention to the Tamazgha, a territory stretching from the Siwa Oasis in Egypt to the Canary Islands, highlighting the importance of Amazigh languages and traditions as fundamental elements of indigenous identity in North Africa.

Through this project, Atoui revisits the acoustic legacy of these cultures and also reinterprets it with the help of new technology, creating a “sound architecture” that invites audiences to interact with and immerse themselves in a web of sounds, materials, and voices.

This project follows the line of work of Atoui’s earlier research initiatives, like Al Qabali (2022), and continues his exploration of how traditional music is reinvented via technology and intercultural cooperation.

Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq is an exhibition produced by TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza with the support of Ecolec and Radio 3 as a media partner. The public program was developed in partnership with educathyssen and Mondo Sonoro and is supported by cultural institutions like the Institut Français Spain, Casa Árabe, and the Euro-Arab Foundation for Higher Studies.