Haroon Mirza takes centre stage

Winning ‘the most promising young artist’ award at last year’s Venice Biennale is a tough gig to live up to, but Haroon Mirza seems to be doing a pretty good job. Awarded the Silver Lion in Venice for his installation The National Apavilion of Then and Now, he has gone on to create equally impressive works that fuse sound and image in multisensory experiences.

His latest show /|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/| (all pronunciation suggestions welcome) at Spike Island in Bristol is his largest solo exhibition to date and includes the work Mirza has produced over the past 12 months.

Haroon tells Phaidon - “It's the largest scale show I've worked on and includes the walk-in structure, The National Apavilion of Then And Now, a room-sized installation called I Saw Square Triangle Sine, a new room-sized installation comprising six sculptural elements, four of which are made in collaboration with James Clarkson, one small new work made of TVs and a presentation of drawings from 2004-12.”

Haroon Mirza, Installation view, The National Apavilion of Then and Now (2011), anechoic chamber, LEDs, amp, speakers, electronic circuit, image courtesy the artist and Spike Island, photography Stuart Whipps

When we asked Haroon about the distinctive title of the show, he explained - “/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/| is a typographic representation of a sawtooth waveform using the characters / and  |.” The saw tooth waveform is most commonly used to visually represent sound waves.

The award-winning The National Apavilion of Then and Now comprises a halo of light set within a soundless chamber. Meanwhile, the installations I Saw Square Triangle Sine and Untitled Song Featuring Untitled Works by James Clarkson show how Mirza brings together light, sounds and movement in his work through objects such as found furniture, electrical components, fragments of other artists' work and audio visual equipment.

Haroon Mirza, Installation view, Untitled Song featuring Untitled Works by James Clarkson (2012), Mixed media, image courtesy the artist and Spike Island, photography Stuart Whipps

I Saw Square Triangle Sine re-uses an idea developed by the artist Angus Fairhurst in Underdone/Overdone paintings (1998) where he invited the audience to play the drums while looking at his paintings. Mirza is offering visitors a similar chance to play a drumkit while looking at Fairhurst's paintings exhibited alongside his own works, thus paying homeage to Fairhurst's original idea which enabled the viewer to experience art work on more than just a visual level.

A press representative at Spike Island told us that the invitation to participate has been welcomed so eagerly by some that a replacement set of drum sticks has already had to be issued after a rather over enthusiastic performance by one visitor.

/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/| at Bristol’s Spike Island runs until March 25. Visit Spike Island for more details.

Phaidon asked Haroon Mirza which songs get him in the creative mood and why. Find out which tracks he chose for his Muse Music playlist and listen to them on Spotify.