Younes Baba-Ali, 'Horn Orchestra', 2009
Younes Baba-Ali, 'TV Beug', 2009
Younes Baba-Ali, 'Secadores', 2009
Younes Baba-Ali's sound installations demand to be heard before they remain to be seen. Having trained as a technician and musician, he naturally developed an affinity for sound and its propagation within space. In all of his work, Baba-Ali seeks to directly confront the visitor to its haunting presence, turning him into a participant of the piece and making him reconsider previously familiar objects.
In 'TV Beug' (2009), the visitor walks into a dark room where a flat screen television, which once epitomized the perfect touch of cool urban high life, sits on a plinth prompted against a wall. While the screen is close enough to reflect psychophrenic like flashes of light opposite, it not quite far enough to see what's actually showing. The sound emitted however is loud and undecipherable and prompts the viewer to feel both paranoid and ill at ease. A video of this work can be seen here.
"Sound takes on an important role in my work because its capacity to propagate in space, to pierce through the soul and integrate the body of visitors. It also enables to give pieces a sense of memory close the creative process."
In 'Secadores' (2009), a power unit sits in the corner of a room connected to six hairdryers, which emit irregular exhaustive sounds of hot air blowing. Recaling Olafur Eliasson's ventilator piece, these machines are left desolate on the ground, like discontent little plastic reptiles, to move wherever their power takes them within the radius of their own wire, warning the viewer not to get too close, just in case these might turn into something else.
Both works were created for a group exhibition 'Desastres Cotidianos' at Espacio Menos Uno in Madrid in June 2009.
Younes Baba-Ali was born in Oujda, Morocco but has lived in Nantes, France, since he was a child. He recently graduated from the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg, and has already widely exhibited throughout Europe in France, Spain and Poland. He recently took part in the BJCEM Biennial of Skopje, in Macedonia in 2009 and will participate in the 3rd Arts in Marrakesh Biennial in Morocco, from 20 November 2009 -20 January 2010.
To view more of his work on Saatchi Online, click here or visit the artist website at www.younesbabaali.com.
Constance Gounod
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