PLAYING ON REPEAT
Artist wants Toto song to play forever in African desert
“It’s gonna take a lot to take me away from you.”
The immortal words from Toto’s famed song Africa can get stuck in your head. One artist hopes it gets stuck there permanently when you visit his installation … in the desert.
Namibian-German artist Max Siedentopf has created an art installation in the Namib coastal desert featuring six speakers that are attached to an MP3 player. The speakers sit on top of six pillars and they will be blaring American band’s famed 1981 chart-topping hit song.
One would think the music player will eventually run out of juice, right? Wrong. The MP3 player will run on solar batteries, so visitors to the installation can enjoy the song forever.
That’s Siedentopf ’s goal, actually. On his website, the artist stated he hoped rock tune would keep “going for all eternity.”
Africa is the third single off of Toto’s fourth studio album, the aptly-named
Toto IV. And with more than 442 million views on YouTube, the tune was once dubbed the “internet’s favourite song.” Siedentopf told The
Guardian any reaction to the installation — positive or negative — is a compliment to him.
“If no one hates it, no one will love it,” Siedentopf said. “I think having the worst sound installation is more interesting than just a mediocre installation.”