Scanners, aerial antennas and recorders were used to record the sounds, music, voices, private conversations and service communications between boats, ships and the coast during two months of sailing along the shores of the Middle East, Italy, North Africa and Southern Europe. The “Ulysses Syndrome” originated from the Soundwalk Collective project and is a panorama of Mediterranean sounds retracing Ulysses’ journey from Troy to Ithaca. It is being presented at the Petit Palais of the Tunis Bardo National Museum.
The Soundwalk Collective worked on the sonority, which was collected to capture the sense of each sound and track: the snippets of stories and glimpses of worlds all going to produce a chorus, an auditory entropy. This polyphonic installation was set up in the magnificent majolica tiled patio of the Petit Palais, which was darkened to help visitors immerge themselves in this fascinating journey.
The Ulysses Syndrome was curated by Massimo Torrigiani, staged by Luca Cipelletti, and presented by the Italian Cultural Institute in Tunisia as part of the integrated “Italy, Cultures, the Mediterranean” cultural programme. Ambassador Lorenzo Fanara was at the opening ceremony, along with the director of the Bardo Museum, the curators, and Simone Merli, the Soundwalk Collective sound designer.
The exhibition will stay open until 4 November. It will then transfer to Beirut.
