|
March 2 - May 21, 2011
Andrews Building Patio
University of Toronto Scarborough
Six long piano strings are connected to a piano. Audio recordings are transmitted into the long piano strings using vibrating coils attached to the wires, which causes the piano strings to vibrate in sympathy with the audio signals. The vibrations in the long piano strings are amplified by contact to the piano soundboard. The sounds heard coming from the piano are reproduced entirely acoustically by the piano soundboard and strings.
The recordings transmitted into the piano strings consist of note sequences derived from piano compositions by Frederic Chopin. The note sequences have been extracted from Chopin’s piano pieces and redeveloped to form new compositional material that has been processed and recorded by Gordon Monahan.
It could be possible that if the wind blows in a perpendicular direction to the piano strings, that they will begin to vibrate with Aeolian tones, thus adding a spontaneous audio event manifested by natural forces. These Aeolian tones will blend with the audio signals or they might drown out the audio signals, which will re-emerge once the wind dies down or changes direction.
Initially presented in conjunction with the Gordon Monahan retrospective Seeing Sound (March 2 - April 13, 2011), A Piano Listening To Itself will remain on exhibition to May 21, 2011.
Musician and multimedia artist Gordon Monahan has created works ranging from piano compositions to sound installations. Since 1978, he has performed and exhibited at numerous performance spaces, museums, galleries, and festivals, including Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin), the Venice Biennale, the Secession (Vienna), Haus der Kunst (Munich), Mak Museum (Vienna), The Kitchen (NY), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Merkin Hall (NY) and Massey Hall (Toronto). Monahan began his career as a pianist, but in the late 1970s began creating multimedia installations and constructing sound sculptures, often using natural forces in his work. Monahan has been Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts (1990), the Exploratorium in San Francisco (1991), D.A.A.D., Berlin (1992-93), the Western Front, Vancouver (1999), Podewil, Berlin (2002), Kunsthalle Krems, Austria (2006), Museumsquartier, Vienna (2008), and a fellow with the New York Foundation for the Arts (1991). From 2000 -2004, he also led the Berlin-based group Fuzzy Love, performing on electric organ. |
