This is the latest project from Soul City Arts where the public were invited to enter an immersive arts installation, guided by a host. They experienced a cave setting along with soundscapes replicating the feeling of being isolated away from modern city-life. Taking place at ‘Port Hope’ – an arts centre in the heart of Sparkbrook Birmingham, audiences teleported from industrial city centre into an cave-like desert  landscape. 

Visitors experienced the cave through two curated experiences. During the day there was  opportunities to enter the installation as a group. By night a limited number of extended experiences took place for a group of visitors to stay, handing over there phones and watches, resulting in a loss in the sense of time.

Artist Mohammed Ali has taken inspiration from the story of the Seven Sleepers which features in the remaining fragments of the famous ‘Birmingham Qur’an’. Discovered to be one of the oldest in the world, the manuscript is housed at the University of Birmingham at the Cadbury Research Library. ‘Sleepers’ has been supported by the University as part of ‘Qur’an In The City’, through their Culture Forward initiative.