Haroon Mirza

Haroon Mirza has won international acclaim for installations that test the interplay and friction between sound and light waves and electric current. He devises sculptures, performances and immersive installations, such as The National Apavillion of Then and Now (2011) – an anechoic chamber with a circle of light that grows brighter in response to increasing drone, and completely dark when there is silence, or the Dyson Sphere (2022) – an earthbound version of a hypothetical, off-world megastructure in which a sun-like central tungsten light powers a carapace of photovoltaic panels. An advocate of interference (in the sense of electro-acoustic or radio disruption), he creates situations that purposefully cross wires. He describes his role as a composer, manipulating electricity, a live, invisible and volatile phenomenon, to make it dance to a different tune and calling on instruments as varied as household electronics, vinyl and turntables, LEDs, furniture, video footage and existing artworks to behave differently. Processes are left exposed and sounds occupy space in an unruly way, testing codes of conduct and charging the atmosphere. Mirza asks us to reconsider the perceptual distinctions between noise, sound and music, and draws into question the categorisation of cultural forms. "All music is organised sound or organised noise," he says. "So as long as you’re organising acoustic material, it’s just the perception and the context that defines it as music or noise or sound or just a nuisance" (2013).

Haroon Mirza was born in 1977 in London where he lives and works. He has a BA in Painting from Winchester School of Art, an MA in Design Critical Practice and Theory from Goldsmiths College (2006) and an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design (2007). Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Lisson Gallery, London (2023), max goelitz, Berlin (2023), Lisson Gallery, New York (2022), max goelitz, Munich, Germany (2022), Gnration, Braga, Portugal (2012), Browns Brook Street (2021), CCA Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu, Japan (2020); John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK (2019); Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia (2019); Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China (2019); Ikon, Birmingham, UK (2018); Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA (2018); Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark (2018); Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK (2017); LiFE, Saint-Nazaire, France (2017); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada (2017); Summerhall, Edinburgh, UK (2016); Pivô, São Paulo, Brazil (2016); Nam June Paik Center, Seoul, South Korea (2015); Matadero, Madrid, Spain (2015); Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland (2015); Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland (2014); His work was included in the Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (2023), Beijing Biennial, Beijing, China (2022/2023), Noor Riyadh Festival (2022/2023), Lille3000 Triennale, Lille, France (2022), Lofoten International Art Festival, North Norwegian Art Centre, Svolvær, Norway (2022), Thailand Biennale, Ministry of culture, Korat, Thailand (2012), Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK (2021), Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh (2020 & 2018), Whitstable Biennale, Canterbury, UK (2016), Sharjah Biennial11, Sharjah, UAE (2013), 7th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, China (2012) and the 54th Venice Biennale, Italy (2011), where he was awarded the Silver Lion. He was awarded the Northern Art Prize in 2011, the DAIWA Foundation Art Prize in 2012, the Zurich Art Prize in 2013, the Nam June Paik Art Center Prize in 2014, the Calder Art Prize in 2015 and the COLLIDE International Award in 2017 which has given place to a two-month residency at CERN, Switzerland in the course of 2018. In the spring this same year, Haroon Mirza unveiled Stone Circle, a large-scale outdoor sculpture commissioned by Ballroom Marfa, Texas, which will remain in the landscape for five years.

Recent, current and forthcoming projects

Haroon Mirza
A Dyson Sphere for Schumann Resonances (Solar Symphony 13)

2021/2022
Photovoltaic panels, aluminium profile, halogen lighting, speakers, bespoke media devices, electronics, DMX dimmer pack, psychoactive flora, LED’s, planter, water, speakers, amps, tabla, cymbals, carpets.

Haroon Mirza
A Dyson Sphere for Schumann Resonances (Solar Symphony 13)

Haroon Mirza
Light Work xlix

2022
Installation view of Light Work xlix (2022). Shown in Notations onTime at Ishara Art Foundation, 2023. Image courtesy of Ishara Art Foundation and the Artist. Photo by Ismail Noor/Seeing Things.

Haroon Mirza
Light Work xlix

2022
COB LED tape, wire, aluminium, copper tape, PWM device, local stone

Detailview of Light Work xlix (2022). Shown in Notations onTime at Ishara Art Foundation, 2023. Image courtesy of Ishara Art Foundation and the Artist. Photo by Ismail Noor/Seeing Things

Haroon Mirza
Blue one hundred and eleven

2022
Bespoke media device, COB LED tape, wire, aluminium, plastic containers, Pond liner, Distilled water, speakers drivers, PWM devices

Installation view, The Timeless Imagination of Yves Klein: Uncertainty and the Immateriality, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Photo: KIOKU Keizo

Haroon Mirza
Natural and Artificial Light

2022
LED matrix, microcontroller, LED sign on modified bass amp

Haroon Mirza
Solar Powered LED Circuit Composition 43 (Aurora B)

2021
Addressable LEDs, electrical wire, copper tape, magnetic wire, LED Matrix, polyurethane resin, metal pigments, acetate, oil on canvas, QT Py on photovoltaic panel

Haroon Mirza
Attraction and illumination

2020
Mixed media and addressable LEDs

Haroon Mirza
Lectures in Theology

2020
24-channel electrical signal, Stainless steel, hi-fi speakers, carpet, LED tape, wall painting Photo by Randhir Singh

Haroon Mirza
Light Work xxxiii

2019
LED strip, wire, fixings

Haroon Mirza
The Construction of an Act

2019
2-channel video and 8-channel electrical signals from the ‘Emerging Paradigm’ media device, steel, LED tape, carpet, Google Home device

Installation view at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2019),Photograph: Andrew Curtis

Haroon Mirza
Collaboration with Siobhan Coen - Dreamachine 2.0

2019
Flat panel speaker, wall mount and small custom purpose built device

Haroon Mirza
Spica and Other Stars

2019

Photovoltaic cells, leds, wire, vinyl record, copper tape, acrylic and anodised aluminium

Haroon Mirza
Light work xxvii

2019
LED strip, wire, fixings

Haroon Mirza
Visions and Observations (Solar Cell Circuit Composition 18)

2019
Solar cells, epoxy resin, copper tape, copper wire, and cables on glass

Haroon Mirza
Beyond the Wave Epoch

2018
4-channel video and 8-channel electrical signals in surround sound; mixed media including Emerging Paradigm device, glass chandelier and hand-knotted carpet

Installation view of 'Time, Forward!', V-A-C Foundation, Venice, Italy, 2019. Photography Delfino Sisto Legnani e Marco Cappelletti.

Haroon Mirza
A Monument to Celestial Objects

2018
Addressable LED’s, copper tape, wire, Arduino, screen print, velccromat, copper rings found at CERN, canvas, XLR lead, aluminium profile

Haroon Mirza
Counterfeiting the Counter Fitters (Rules of Appropriation 2)

2018

Photovoltaic panels, metal stand, turntable, wires, designer inspired handbag, electronics

Haroon Mirza
LED Circuit Composition 18 (Self Transforming Machine v2)

2016 - 2018
Addressable LED’s, wire, copper tape, aluminium, microcontroller and microphone cable on anodised aluminium

Haroon Mirza
Stone Circle

2018
9 stones, LEDs, speakers, solar panels

Photographer Emma Rogers

Haroon Mirza
Stone Circle

2018
9 stones, LEDs, speakers, solar panels

Photographer Emma Rogers

Haroon Mirza
Stone Circle

2018
9 stones, LEDs, speakers, solar panels

Photographer Emma Rogers

Haroon Mirza
A C I D G E S T

2017
Modified Marshall cabs, LEDs, bespoke media device, XLR4 cables, score

Installation view of 'Haroon Mirza: A C I D G E S T', Pérez Art Museum Miami, US July 21, 2017 – May 20, 2018. Courtesy Pérez Art Museum Miami, photography Oriol Tarridas.

Haroon Mirza
A C I D G E S T

2017
Modified Marshall cabs, LEDs, bespoke media device, XLR4 cables, score

Installation view of 'Haroon Mirza: A C I D G E S T', Pérez Art Museum Miami, US July 21, 2017 – May 20, 2018. Courtesy Pérez Art Museum Miami, photography Oriol Tarridas.

Haroon Mirza
Stimulate Pineal Function

2017
Modified Marshall amp, LEDs, 22" flat screen, bespoke media device

$/\/\/\ /\/\/\$

Haroon Mirza
/\/\/\ /\/\/\

2017
hrm199: Haroon Mirza & Francesca Fornasari, feat. Nik Void & Tim Burgess.

Mixed media

Installation view of the exhibition /\/\/\ /\/\/\. Production LiFE – Ville de Saint‐Nazaire, off‐site programme by Le Grand Café – contemporary art centre, Saint‐Nazaire, France, 2017. Photographer Marc Domage.

$/\/\/\ /\/\/\$

Haroon Mirza
/\/\/\ /\/\/\

2017
hrm199: Haroon Mirza & Francesca Fornasari, feat. Nik Void & Tim Burgess.

Mixed media

Haroon Mirza
ããã - Fear of the Unknown remix

2017
4 channel video, 8 channel electrical signal, Emerging Paradigm media player, carpet, Banisteriopsis caapi, Psychotria viridis, plant stand, LEDs

Haroon Mirza
Torched

2016
Electroetched, Amanita Muscaria on copper on PCB blank

Haroon Mirza
Acid

2016
Morning glory (Ipomoea tricolour) seeds acid etched on copper PCB blank

Haroon Mirza
ããã

2016
Mixed media including Emerging Paradigm (2015), 4 channels of video and 8 channels of electrical signal Dimensions variable

Installation view at Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada. © Haroon Mirza; Courtesy Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. Photography: SITE Photo / Scott Massey

Haroon Mirza
ããã

2016
Mixed media including Emerging Paradigm (2015), 4 channels of video and 8 channels of electrical signal Dimensions variable

Installation view at PIVÔ, São Paulo, Brasil. © Haroon Mirza; Courtesy of PIVÔ, São Paulo

Haroon Mirza
ããã

2016
Mixed media including Emerging Paradigm (2015), 4 channels of video and 8 channels of electrical signal Dimensions variable

Installation view at PIVÔ, São Paulo, Brasil. © Haroon Mirza; Courtesy of PIVÔ, São Paulo

Haroon Mirza
ããã

2016
Mixed media including Emerging Paradigm (2015), 4 channels of video and 8 channels of electrical signal Dimensions variable

Installation view at PIVÔ, São Paulo, Brasil. © Haroon Mirza; Courtesy of PIVÔ, São Paulo

Haroon Mirza
Transverse Waves for Wayne (Solar Symphony 10)

2016
Photovoltaic panel, van door, speakers, electronics, LEDs

Haroon Mirza
A Chamber for Horwitz; Sonakinatography Transcriptions in Surround Sound

2015
Custom audio visual device, LEDs, speakers, foam

Haroon Mirza
A Chamber for Horwitz; Sonakinatography Transcriptions in Surround Sound

2015
Custom audio visual device, LEDs, speakers, foam

Haroon Mirza
Light Work xlii

2022
LED strip, wire, fixings

Haroon Mirza
Solar Powered LED Circuit Composition 24

2015
Solar Panel, cable, wire, glass shower panel, copper tape, LED tape, turntable shelf, Black ash woodgrain Fablon

Haroon Mirza
Collaboration with Mattia Bosco - Standing Stones (Solar Symphony 8)

2015
Two Nero Portoro stones, solar panels, LEDs, LED driver, Arduino, speakers

Haroon Mirza
Duet for a Duo (Solar Symphony 7)

2015
Photovoltaic panels, LEDs, Arduinos, rock speakers, cable temporarily incorporating Untitled (c.1940) by Alexander Calder, fan; Untitled, Radio sculpture (c.1962); and Radio Stockholm, Radio sculpture (c.1966) by Jean Tinguely

Haroon Mirza
Duet for a Duo (Solar Symphony 7)

Haroon Mirza
Falling Rave

2014
Wooden side table, circuitry control box, LED strips, mackie speaker, behringer speaker, radio

Haroon Mirza
The Calling

2013
Lamps, transistor radios, tables, PA system, projector, wooden screen 4 x 7 ft with LEDs, control box, speaker cone, wood, metal stand, light bulb, glass cabinet, cabling, remote controlled socket, electronics