I do not pretend to be an art genius. I will be the last person in the room to decode any symbolism or interpret meaning from something abstract. I’m not proud of it but this is how I am. I appreciate art in the simplest of terms: the technical skill required to make it, and how cool it is.
Toto Forever by artist Max Siedentopf satisfies these simple criteria for me. Its concept: speakers playing Africa by Toto forever in the middle of a desert. Its execution: solar-powered speakers in a secret location that will play forever, or at least until something breaks.
From Siedentopf’s own description:
Set in the Namib desert, which is not only the oldest desert in Africa but the world, I set up a sound installation which pays tribute to probably the most popular song of the last four decades:
Toto – Africa
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.
As you can see in the video below, it is exactly what it says on the tin:
It’s secret to a point: Siedentopf has given an approximate location for the installation. A really approximate one. A really, really approximate one.
Although you will probably never find it, you can at least be satisfied that the installation is out there somewhere, playing bangers non-stop.
