IMMA is proud to present the first solo exhibition in Ireland by innovative sound artist Tarek Atoui

IMMA is proud to present the first solo exhibition in Ireland by Tarek Atoui, Lebanese sound artist and composer, opening on Saturday 21 February 2026. Based in Paris, Atoui is known for his innovative approach to sound, performance, and instrument-making. His work often explores the physicality of sound and the act of listening, creating immersive experiences that challenge traditional boundaries between artist, audience, and instrument. Atoui frequently collaborates with musicians, instrument makers, and people with diverse hearing abilities, emphasising inclusivity and experimentation.

Atoui’s exhibition at IMMA is presented across two sites, an installation, Souffle Continu, in the Baroque Chapel that focuses on the tactile quality of the sound, vibration, and movement of “wind instruments”; and in the gallery spaces Sunflowers presents a series of works inspired by the rhythmic and material traditions of Korean drumming.

In the Chapel the installation Souffle Continu foregrounds the tactile nature of sound, its vibrations, movements, and material force through a series of wind instruments: Organ Within and Wind Houses (#1 & #2). The artistic vision behind Souffle Continu is “a set of possibilities and a potential sound generator that can produce a multitude of music pieces, collective situations, and interpretations”. Atoui commenced his research on this work in 2013, in dialogue with deaf students, resulting in the development of an initial body of works entitled WITHIN. The intention was to introduce the audience to a sonic experience based not so much on auditory perception, but rather on a physical, visual, and gestural one. Each object is the result of collaborations with musicians and artisans, while its “playability” has been explored through various workshops with educators and students.   

Organ Within emerged from a collaboration with musician Léo Maurel and artist Vincent Martial and their research on pipe organs in churches, modular synthesizers, and the perception of tones by deaf people. Air, channelled in pipes spread out like tentacles on the ground, produces amplified vibrations that generate low frequencies, perceptible not only to the ear but also as physical sensations in the listener’s body. Here, Organ Within is presented together with reed-boxes, small instruments shaped like wooden boxes assembled using materials with different acoustic properties that produce melodies. 

Wind House #1 and #2 are sound rooms that visitors are invited to enter. Wind House #1 was inspired by SubBass Prototone, an experimental two metre by two metre organ pipe (whose measurements Atoui replicated) built by instrumentalist Johannes Goebel in the 1980s. Wind House #2 has a more elongated shape that creates a different reverberation of sound in space. In both works, a pane that slides vertically serves as the sound device, creating different tones depending on the amount of wind entering the room by a compressor. Sound wave vibrations are propagated through the surfaces of the chambers, and transmitted through the visitor’s body, who becomes part of the musical instrument.   

In Gallery 3 Atoui introduces a body of work Sunflowers, 2024-2025 inspired by the rhythmic and material traditions of Korean drumming. Sunflowers also act as listening devices recalibrating the sounds within the gallery spaces. The galleries are conceived as both an immersive listening environment and a site of collective production, inviting audiences to engage in workshops to generate their own sonic materials. In Room 2, Atoui presents The Whisperers, 2021–2022 a project centered on improvisation, attentiveness, and collective listening. Whispering Playground, 2021 is a water-based circuit that channels sound and vibration from multiple sources, including industrial noise, flowing water, percussion, and vinyl recordings. The Whisperers will be activated through a series of workshops led by IMMA’s Visitor Engagement Team, offering opportunities for learning, experimentation, and shared discovery.  

Mary Cremin, Head of Programming at IMMA said: “At IMMA, we are thrilled to present Tarek Atoui’s work in Ireland for the very first time. Rooted in improvisation, activation and deep listening, his practice unfolds through richly layered sensory and cognitive experiences that invite active participation. We are especially excited by his selection for the Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall and delighted that audiences can encounter his work at IMMA prior to this landmark installation in 2026.” 

10 February 2026 

ENDS 

For media inquiries, please contact:  

Monica Cullinane E: [email protected] T: 086 2010023
Patrice Molloy E: [email protected] T: 086 2009957 

Notes to Editors  

Exhibition Details:  

Tarek Atoui 

Souffle Continu
Baroque Chapel: 21 February – 19 April 2026 

Sunflowers
Gallery 3: 21 February – 19 July 2026 

Admission free
Webpage: Tarek Atoui exhibition – IMMA 

Opening Hours
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 10am – 5.30pm
Wednesday: 11.30am – 5.30pm
Sunday: 12noon – 5.30pm
Bank Holiday Mondays: 12noon – 5.30pm 

Exhibition Events 

IMMA Talk
20 February, 5pm, Lecture Room
Artist Conversation with Mary Cremin, Head of Programming, IMMA. 
Admission free, book online at Preview Artist Conversation: Tarek Atoui – IMMA 

Exhibition Opening
20 February, 6 – 8pm
7pm Tarek Atoui, Khodor Ellaik, Boris Shershenkov and Natalia Beylis musicians, perform at the Opening. 

Tarek Atoui artworks activated by Natalia Beylis and Áine O’Dwyer 
Saturday 21 March, 2 – 3pm 
Location: Baroque Chapel & Gallery 3, IMMA  
Admission is free. Booking recommended. Book online at Tarek Atoui performance with Natalia Beylis and Áine O’Dwyer – IMMA 

For this performance Tarek Atoui invites Irish based musicians Natalia Beylis and Áine O’Dwyer to activate the artworks in his exhibition. Sunflowers, located in Gallery 3, is a complex sound environment, merging Korean drumming tradition and electronic soundscapes, where Áine O’Dwyer will perform. In the Baroque Chapel, Natalia Beylis will activate Souffle Continu artworks Organ Within, Wind House #1, and Wind House #2.  

About the Artist  

Tarek Atoui (b. Beirut, 1980; lives and works in Paris) is an artist and electroacoustic composer who explores the medium of sound and the way it gives shape to perceptions through dynamic installations, experimental acoustic environments, and collaborative performances. The artist works with composers and craftsmen from different countries to invent complex instruments with strong sculptural halos. Using custom-built electronic instruments and computers, Atoui references current social and political realities, revealing music and new technologies as powerful aspects of expression and identity. Education and social connection are integral aspects of the artist’s practice that often collaborate with different local communities and invites the visitor to interact and experience his multi-sensory environments.   

He has exhibited at major institutions, most recently Hangar Bicocca, Milano (2025), KUB, Bregenz, (2024); S.M.A.K., Ghent (2024);  Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2023); IAC-Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2023). He has performed in renowned institutions such as Palazzo Grassi e Punta della Dogana–Pinault Collection, Venice (2019); Para Site, Hong Kong (2017; and his works are parts of several collections, notably the Tate Modern’s, Guggenheim collection, Monaco Museum’s, Sharjah collection, Pinault collection, French national collection and Kadist’s. Important group exhibitions include the 13th Taipei Biennial (2023); 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022); Bourse du Commerce -Pinault Collection, Paris (2021); 13th Gwangju Biennial, South Korea (2021); the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); the 58th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennial (2019); dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel (2012).   

About the Collaborators and Performers  

Natalia Beylis has released over 40 albums between solo works and collaborations and has appeared on numerous compilations. A sonic storyteller and multi-instrumentalist based in rural Ireland, her work mirrors her surroundings: creaking trees, farm animals, vocal samples taken from conversations with her neighbours, the north-westerly breeze, creatures rusting in the hedgerows, strange noises from the bog at dusk and rainfall. She regularly records on a variety of traditional instruments as well as non-musical sound sources: her solo compositions and improvisations are a mix of garbled tape collage recordings, manipulated sounds of seemingly mundane objects, eerie mandola mantras and dreamscape piano voyages. A recently released album exclusively uses sounds created by a domestic Singer sewing machine. Natalia regularly collaborates with cellist Eimear Reidy, percussionist Willie Stewart in the duo Hedgling, and is a member of the group BB84. She also creates pieces for ensembles. Her latest composition, Around Here, The Birds Plant the Trees, uses conkers as a sonic source and visual conducting aid to direct the players.  

Khodor Ellaik is a Lebanese musician, composer, and sound artist working under the name Kid Fourteen. Emerging from Beirut’s independent music scenes before relocating to Paris, his multifaceted practice spans beat-driven structures, songwriting, guitar/saxophone-based noise, and ambient composition. His works are often shaped by saxophone performance and, in selected projects, by textual or vocal elements drawn from Arabic poetry. Alongside his recorded output, he has collaborated with artists such as Xiu Xiu, Alex Zhang Hungtai, Tarek Atoui, and Jad Atoui, and is a frequent collaborator with the Zoukak Theatre Company.  

Áine O’Dwyer (b. 1982, county Limerick) is a multi-disciplinary artist, a musician, composer and performer whose work is informed by both the conceptual concerns of sound-art and traditional compositional techniques, embracing the broader aesthetics of sound and its relationship to environment, time, audience and architecture. She has created works internationally for large-scale and intimate settings which often allow for both planned and chance events to co-exist. Recent presentations include Old Songs (2025), a performance installation commissioned by Oscillation festival, Brussels and Sing in the Dark (2024), a voice and Acousmonium performance at Archipel festival, Switzerland. Her most recent album, Turning in Space (2023) a site-specific work based on the dialogue between a found-tuned piano and suburban surroundings, was released on Blank Forms as a triple cassette boxset. Áine has previously performed work by Scratch Orchestra, Jennifer Walsh, Lina Lapelette, Annea Lockwood and William Eggelston.  

Boris Shershenkov is media artist and researcher, Ph.D. (candidate of technical sciences), educator, and musical instrument designer. Focusing on projects that develop new methodologies in technological and sound art, he investigates the relationship between humans and technology, combining modern techniques with media archaeological research. As a musician, he actively works in the areas of live electronics and electroacoustic improvisation, both solo and in collaboration with other musicians and artists.