Project

Artist Ala Ebtekar will work with a number of collaborators to present Cylindr.us, a night of events surrounding the exhibition The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: A New Beginning. Cylindr.us is a project in seven movements, each exploring another facet of the exhibition. The night examines why, more than 2,500 years after the Cyrus Cylinder’s creation, the object remains so culturally significant, and how the legendary figure Cyrus the Great holds such strong influence on ideas about modern civilization. The project finds inspiration from the collaboration between the artist and Bay Area students. After a docent tour, students worked with Ebtekar to respond to the question, “if you were the Master of the Universe, thinking about your legacy, what message would you inscribe on a cylinder like Cyrus’s?”

Informed by his collaborators, Ebtekar will transform Samsung Hall into the Gate to All Nations, a historic landmark in Persepolis (in present-day Iran), through a multi-channel, quadraphonic sound installation performed by electronic composer and musician Sote. At the core of this installation, Ebtekar will use the obsolete technology of phonograph cylinders (one of the earliest mediums to record and reproduce sound) with seven wax cylinders, each containing a unique recording. From cylinder to cylinder, from clay to wax, from cuneiform to the sound of the first recorded voice, Cylindr.us draws parallels between inscription and recording from two different eras, cultures and moments marked by innovation. Mining student responses, Cylindr.us explores connections between the legacy of this ancient object and the contemporary moment.

Event Page:
Artists Drawing Club | Cylindr.us with Ala Ebtekar