Musrara Sonic Art Research Group

Finding Amir / From Jerusalem to the Judaea Desert, Israel

Audio visual, 16:14 min. 2020, Israel

17/12/2020

- 21:40

The group started work on an Ambisonic based studio and performance space for spatial composition to serve local artists, but then, in early March, they had to stop all activities due to Covid-19. As the country was going into lockdown, one member of the group, Amir Meir, decided to spend his isolation period in one of the many caves in the Judean Desert near Jerusalem, the very caves that were inhabited by various isolated ascetic cults, thousands of years ago. Amir set off and cut all communication since. Other members of the group have decided to travel to the desert, find Amir and look into the connection between his insights from this experience and the field of 3D sound. The trip is documented in a short film enhanced by binaural audio recordings and compositions.

With the aid of space and sound illusions practices, the film Finding Amir touches on profound questions about the imagined realities that lie behind the walls of digital and symbolic representation.

**The use of headphones is recommended

The members of the Musrara Sonic Art Research Group: Amir Meir, Eran Sachs, Yogev Frilichman, Dana Tkatch, Eyal Biton, Lior Pinsky

The work premiered in Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria 2020.

The project was produced as part of the Jerusalem Greenhouse for Artists and supported by Matanel Foundation.