Wailing Bodies 2017

Choir group

00:07:00 minutes

Performance Art

Areej Kaoud

Image courtesy to the artist

I recently learnt the correct English verb used to describe an ambulance, a police car or any alarm sounding is ‘to wail’. English being my third language, the verb ‘wail’ has instant human qualities to me, to also use it to describe a machine became intriguing. During my residency at ISCP I decided to create a performance where the human voice and body wails machine generated emergency sounds. Having recorded police cars, ambulances and fire trucks wailing constantly in New York city, I decided to take voice coaching classes in order to scale my voice, evaluate where its strength lies and train with a group of performers to wail together.

Wailing is presented here as an exercise attempting to ease a state of anxiety, increase personal and psychological provisions’ durability through vocal play.

This performance artwork took place during my residency at ISCP in New York sponsored by Maraya Art Center.