Simon Coates & Zahra Jewanjee
having a proposal accepted is feedback enough as it shows that we’ve somehow done a good job. In terms of audience, I’m more on the side of seeing what people will endure whereas I think Zahra is more sensitive to how people respond. Zahra: Constructive feedback is always welcomed. When making a piece I try to put myself in the place of a listener, this allows me to understand the perspective of the audience. I want to satisfy myself and in doing so will hopefully satisfy others. I personally find absolutely fascinating the fruitful collaboration that you have established together: especially because it reveals a symbiosis between two apparently different approaches to art. Could you tell us something about this effective synergy? Simon: ‘Vipralambha’ was our first piece. I’d read something about a collective who were looking for work that melded Indian and Pakistani sounds. I had some field sounds that I’d recorded in Kerala and I knew that Zahra had some film (with sound) that she’d recorded in Lahore. All we did was sit down and work out how we could make each other’s sounds fit together. Zahra: We both decided to work with sounds we had previously recorded. In some ways our approaches are very similar so it was not difficult, and we both get on well so we collaborate with each other without a problem. The result is work that is both rewarding and fresh.
You have taken part to lots of exhibition, and we would like to remember that your first project Vipralambha (Union Through Separation) has been recently exhibited at the Obserwatorium Urban Sound Festival in Turon in Poland. How important is for you the feedback of your audience? By the way, when you conceive a piece, do you think to whom will enjoy it?
By the way, the artist Peter Tabor once said that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between two artists? Simon: Zahra hadn’t really made sound work before we collaborated so it wasn’t especially a
Simon: Feedback is always welcome, although often
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