A Sound Map of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo John Kannenberg, 2011

Two channel stereo soundscape composition Duration: 60:00

During a five-week stay in Egypt from April to May 2010, I devoted four days to recording the sounds present inside and outside the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, resulting in eight hours of material from which this soundscape composition has been composed. As a cultural institution, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo represents one of the foundations of human history; as a soundscape, it represents an unexpectedly rich sonic experience with its own place in the history of a country in transition. Opened in 1902, the current architectural structure housing the Egyptian Museum has had little renovation work since, with historic objects of world heritage stored in dusty, decaying galleries. Plans have been underway for years to move the collection to a new location at the Grand Egyptian Museum in the contemporary Cairo suburb Mohandiseen, the ancient city of Giza. However, before the relocation was undertaken, the uprising of January 25, 2011 transformed the museums current location near Tahrir Square into a pivotal battleground in the struggle between anti-government protesters and pro-government forces loyal to Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president whose thirty years of non-democratic rule served as the catalyst for the uprising. As a record of the sonic experience of this entropic space, the somewhat Lockwoodian sound map I have constructed presents a virtual tour of a museum in decay: buzzing fluorescent lights about the extinguish themselves, squeaking fans moving air through a building without air conditioning, drills and hammers making spot repairs. Yet this physically needy structure is still an active node in the cultural network of humanity. With its contents now partially looted and the building itself under constant threat of the violence periodically breaking out around it, the museums identity has been ruptured, yet it has also been elevated to a new level of importance as the world scrutinizes the developing situation in Egypt. This soundscape composition preserves the museums pre-revolution sonic identity while foregrounding its identity as a nexus where the paths of world history cross.
John Kannenberg is a sonic and visual artist whose work deals with a wide variety of themes including collection, temporal perception, nature, mindful contemplation, the sonics of space and place, and the processes of making and experiencing art. His quietly reflective pieces blur the boundaries between intention and accident, incorporating techniques derived from drawing, free improvisation, cubism, graphic musical composition, photography, and abstract expressionism in their construction. He is the creator, designer and curator of Stasisfield.com, an interdisciplinary digital art space presenting works by a worldwide selection of artists. More information: JohnKannenberg.com Available on CD from Hungarian record label 3Leaves: 3leaves-label.com

EGYPTIAN MUSEUM GROUND FLOOR & EXTERIOR

EGYPTIAN MUSEUM UPPER FLOOR

SOUND MAP TIMECODE KEY 00:00: Fountain outside main entrance 00:43: Sitting at the Tomb of Auguste Mariette, museum gardens 01:00: Guard ejecting me from the entrance to the museum basement 01:25: Walking past the library entrance, librarian sitting inside playing with keys 01:47: Walking in main entrance and standing in Room 48, Rotunda 04:30: Walking through Room 47, Old Kingdom 05:17: Sitting in Room 37, Old Kingdom 07:18: Walking through Rooms 36, 31, 26, 21, 16, 11, and 6 (Old to Middle Kingdom) 09:38: Room 3, Amarna Room, sitting on bench 10:45: Room 3, standing in Nefertiti apse looking back into gallery 11:38: Walking through Rooms 7 and 8, New Kingdom 13:20: Walking up stairs in Room 5 up to room 10, Tutankhamun 16:00: Room 4, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry 17:18: Approaching Tut galleries 17:30: Fan at entrance to Tut galleries, moving in to main Tut gallery 20:08: Room 3, main Tut gallery (creaking floor, security phone)

23:30: Walking through Rooms 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 (Tut) 25:15: Construction in Room 34 (ground floor) heard from room 34 (upper floor) 25:42: Sitting in Room 43, Yuya and Thuya 26:19: Walking in Room 43, maintenance workers watching TV on a mobile phone 27:44: Into the Animal Mummies gallery 29:37: Room 48, Pyramid model, under Rotunda 31:12: Purchasing ticket to Royal Mummies galleries 32:20: Room 56, Royal Mummies gallery 1 35:27: Room 52, Royal Mummies gallery 2 36:09: Room 51, dying flourescent light above mummy cases 39:28: Room 46, above toilets 43:21: Central court, outside room 27, Middle Kingdom Models 46:00: Room 49, New Kingdom, upper floor 47:36: Room 49, Late Period, ground floor 48:42: Room 34, Graeco-Roman, under repair 50:28: Room 44, Special Exhibition room 51:33: Room 18, Atrium 53:27: Room 38, Atrium 53:46: Beginning in Room 43, Pre-Dynastic, walking through Rotunda and security exit 56:40: Exit, gift shop 1 58:08: Exit hallway 58:27: Exit, gift shop 2 59:28: Exit staircase to outside 59:37: Fountain outside main entrance (reprise)