No Comment 79 : Toto Forever
Max Siedentopf, Toto Forever (2019), a installation playing Toto’s 1982 song “Africa” on an endless loop. Set in the Namib desert, which is not only the oldest desert in Africa but the world. Photo courtesy of Max Siedentopf.
HOW: The sound installation consists of 6 speakers which are attached to an MP3 player that only has one song on it - Toto’s Africa. The song is put on loop and the installation runs on solar batteries to keep Toto going for all eternity.
WHAT: Artist Max Siedentopf, who grew up in Namibia, has installed a set of six speakers and a solar-powered MP3 player in a remote location in the Namib Desert. The speakers blast the 1982 pop hit Africa by Toto on an endless loop. Siedentopf says the endeavor to physically present Africa in Africa was an effort to pay the popular song the “ultimate homage.
”WHERE: The artist shared a map on which he circled the entire Namib desert—which is as big as the Netherlands and Switzerland combined—to mark the “approximate location” of the artwork. Diehards have a long trek ahead of them, so the artist advises taking plenty of water along for the pilgrimage.
FUN FACT: Siedentopf has previously satirized stereotypical Western understandings of Africa and art from the continent.
Watch No Comment 78 : HERE