The Documentary Podcast Haroon Mirza: Creating a sculpture with light, sound and video
Dec 29, 2025
Haroon Mirza, a British sound and installation artist known for his immersive multi-sensory works, joins forces with collaborating artist Jack Jelfs to create an ambitious installation inspired by their time at CERN. They delve into the intricate design process that fuses light, sound, and video through unique structures like an LED chandelier and a circle of speakers. Technical challenges abound as they fine-tune synchronization and iterate on glitches, all while drawing inspiration from everyday life and music. The duo’s innovative approach promises a sensory cocoon for viewers.
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Multisensory Sculpture As Immersion
- Haroon Mirza composes multi-sensorial installations using LED lighting, audio-visual gear, wires and bespoke electronics.
- He aims for immersive experiences that engage sight, sound and bodily vibration rather than passive observation.
Residency At CERN Shaped The Project
- Haroon and Jack spent two months at CERN as part of the Collide residency, touring detectors and interviewing physicists.
- The visit felt like a surreal mix of a school trip and a James Bond set and fed their ongoing creative processing.
Structured Decay From Language To Noise
- The installation layers a video, eight speakers in a circle and an octagonal LED chandelier with synchronized light and sound channels.
- Over eight minutes the piece deliberately degrades from intelligible speech into electrical colour and noise.