An important current running along and across Tarek Atoui’s sound experimentations is collaboration. A great majority of his work involves and evolves through participation of others. These can be designers, builders, musicians, field recordist, listeners. It is often the case that his installations offer themselves as very direct relational platforms as they can be activated by the audiences and other artists. For the exhibition Waters’ Witness in Serralves, sound artist Alan Affichard, a group of Portuguese musicians and artists as well as students from art schools, all are invited to interact and dialogue with the works installed. Along with collaborative and educational workshops, performances are organized throughout the entire period of the exhibition and artists able to engage with a diversity of sounds inhabiting the exhibition at different stages, progressing from its winter awakening up to the midsummer demise.

In 2018, Tarek Atoui developed the project I/E Porto, from which resulted a collection of sounds that are included in Waters’ Witness. Important contributions were then the work and expertise of field recordist Eric La Casa and the collaboration of Porto based association Sonoscopia through some of the musicians and artists connected with it. The survey of locations and field visits had the participation of this group and the project had as its final moment a sound performance in Serralves Park with all those involved: Atoui, La Casa, Alberto Lopes, Gustavo Costa and Henrique Fernandes.

This group of artists from Sonoscopia is now back in collaboration with Atoui, this time with two performances activating the present exhibition .

Sonoscopia is an association/platform for the creation, production and promotion of artistic and educational projects essentially focused on the areas of experimental, improvised and electroacoustic music, on sound exploration and investigation and on their interdisciplinary intersections.