MUEZZIN: general view with basketball court and rising smoke from fog machines

Legendary pioneer of Happenings, Allan Kaprow, created a piece for inSITE94 that referenced his historic contribution to art in his use of the found, commonplace, and literal experience. Kaprow chose to use the minaret tower at Centro Escolar Agua Caliente as the site for his piece and elaborated on the associations it evoked, from Muslim prayer towers to rockets and war missiles. With the title MUEZZIN, Kaprow made a reference to the Islamic crier, or muezzin, who calls worshippers to prayer throughout the day. Rather than a human voice however, the artist used a recording of barking dogs calling out from the tower every hour, while a dense fog simultaneously was emitted from the base of the tower, simulating the firing of a missile. --inSITE94

• 1994

• Kaprow, Allan (American Performance artist, 1927-2006)

• InSITE94

This image is a scan of a 35mm color slide from the InSite Archive (MSS 707, Box 310, Folder 01, Item 175)

Centro Escolar Agua Caliente (Tijuana, Mexico)

found objects; smoke; loudspeakers; audio

• InSITE94

• Mexican-American border region
• San Diego (Calif.)
• Tijuana (Baja California, Mexico)

• Public art

• Adhan
• Aleatoric music
• Architecture (object genre)
• Border art
• City noise
• Dogs
• Dogs--Barking
• Fog
• Islam
• Minarets
• Missiles (weapons)
• Muezzins
• Music
• Noise
• Public address systems
• Rockets
• Smoke
• Sound installations (Art)
• Sound recordings

• image

Shared Shelf: 16715456

Online finding aid

• inSite Archive

Film, Audio, Video and Digital Art

Sculpture and Installations

[Title, Date]. InSite Archive. MSS 707. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

Unknown (US)

Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.

Constraint(s) on Use: This work may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of this work beyond that allowed by "fair use" requires the written permission of the copyright holders(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Libraries. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Libraries department having custody of the work.

Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0175 (https://lib.ucsd.edu/sca)

2020-10-27