Wednesday, May 21, 2008

New York: Playing the Building

Playing the Building

Creative Time Presents
Playing the Building: An Installation by David Byrne
The Battery Maritime Building
Battery Maritime Building: Front
10 South Street, New York, NY (Map)
31 May – 10 August 2008
Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Noon – 6PM (Free)
Opening Reception: 31 May, 6–8 PM
[Download press release]

Playing the building is a sound installation in which the infrastructure, the physical plant of the building, is converted into a giant musical instrument. Devices are attached to the building structure — to the metal beams and pillars, the heating pipes, the water pipes — and are used to make these things produce sound. The activations are of three types: wind, vibration, striking. The devices do not produce sound themselves, but they cause the building elements to vibrate, resonate and oscillate so that the building itself becomes a very large musical instrument.