This Artist Set up a Musical Art Display in the Middle of the Namibia Desert
The Installation will play ‘Africa’ by Toto over and over, forever.
Paying tribute to Toto‘s soft-rock chef d’œuvre and its atemporal qualities, Africa, German-Namibian artist Max Siedentopf travelled 31,274 square miles into the Namib Desert to set up his sound installation.
“I’ve listened to the song over 400 times now and I still cannot say what makes it so enduring,” the artist told artnet News. “It just hits the right nerves.”
Africa was a song debuted in 1982 about the Western coveted journey to the African continent. Toto won multiple platinum statuses back in the day, yet the track’s timeless charm and cultural relevance has helped to keep its momentum rolling. The tune went viral recently on Reddit and Twitter, also hitting 400 million views on YouTube.
Toto Forever consists of a turquoise MP3 player connected to six speakers facing in different directions. All made of durable materials to withstand extreme weather conditions in the desert, the speakers sit atop six white rectangular blocks while surrounding a taller one which upholds the audio device. Powered by solar batteries, the speakers repeat the ’80s hit song day and night.
Check out Siedentopf’s website and in more art news, Jeff Koons lays off workers before moving offices to Hudson Yards.
