Finding Amir / From Jerusalem to the Judaea Desert, Israel

“There has to be a Matrix because ´things are not right, opportunities are missed, something goes wrong all the time’ […] the Matrix that obfuscates the ’true’ reality that is behind it all. Consequently, the problem with the film is that […] it supposes another ‘real’ reality behind our everyday reality sustained by the Matrix.” (“The Matrix”, Slavoj Žižek)

Over the past year the Musrara Sonic Art Research Group has been researching different techniques of representing sound and music in 3D spaces, both physical and virtual, while engaging in the artistic, philosophical and technical questions that arise from this practice. The group started work on an Ambisonic based studio and performance space for spatial composition to serve local artists, but then, in early March, they had to stop all activities and disperse to their homes due to Covid-19. As the country was going into quarantine, one member of the group, Amir Meir, decided to spend his isolation period in one of the many caves in the Judean Desert near Jerusalem, the very caves that were inhabited by various isolated ascetic cults, thousands of years ago. Amir set off and cut all communication since. Now that the restrictions have been eased, other members of the group have decided to travel to the desert, find Amir and look into the connection between his insights from this experience and the field of 3D sound. The trip is documented in a short film enhanced by binaural audio recordings and compositions.

With the aid of space and sound illusions practices, the film Finding Amir With the aid of space and sound illusions practices, we will try to touch on the in-depth questions about the imagined realities that lie behind the walls of digital and symbolic representation.