Artist creates installation to play Toto’s Africa ‘for eternity’ in Namib desert
Max Siedentopf described the artwork as the “ultimate homage” to the hit 1982 song.
An installation in the Namib desert will play Africa by Toto “for all eternity”, according to the artist who created it.
Max Siedentopf, a Namibian-German artist, set up the installation to pay tribute to what he calls “probably the most popular song of the last four decades”.
The artwork consists of an MP3 player containing only Africa, which was first released as a single in 1982, linked to six speakers.
“The song is put on loop and the installation runs on solar batteries to keep Toto going for all eternity,” Siedentopf wrote on his website.
Siedentopf said the artwork was inspired by the ever growing popularity of the song, which was recently covered by both Weezer and Pitbull and has become a staple of bizarre internet cover versions and memes.
He told NPR: “I was very intrigued by this and wanted to pay the song the ultimate homage and physically exhibit ‘Africa’ in Africa.
“The Namibian desert — which is, with 55 million years, the oldest desert in the world — seemed to be the perfect spot for this.”
Should fans wish to track the artwork down, Siedentopf has included a map to its approximate location on his website.
That approximate location seems to take in the entire Namib desert, but the fact that Siedentopf grew up in Windhoek and installed the work while visiting family in Namibia might give a clue to a starting point for any search.
This isn’t the first time that hard rotation of the Toto single has hit the headlines.
Just a few weeks ago, DJ Michael Savage organised a charity club night in Bristol in which he played Africa on a loop for 12 hours.
