The First Ever Ruined Piano Convergence
Ross Bolleter
photo by Peter Illari
“A piano is said to be ruined (rather than neglected or devastated) when it has been abandoned to all weathers, say on a sheep station or tennis court, with the result that few or none of its notes sound like that of an even-tempered upright piano. A Ruined Piano has its frame and bodywork more or less intact (even though the soundboard is cracked wide open, with the blue sky shining through) so that it can be played in the ordinary way. By contrast a Devastated Piano is usually played in a crouched or lying position.”
“All that fine Nineteenth century European craftsmanship,” Bolleter writes of a degrading pianola, ”all the damp and unrequited loves of Schumann, Brahms and Chopin dry out and degrade into a heap of rotten wood and rusting wire. The pianola’s dusky melodies become the harsh and common parlance of dogs, crows and sheep station owners complaining about the drought.”
WARPS – World Association for Ruined Piano Studies – www.warpsmusic.com
Perth composer and Ruined Piano pioneer Ross Bolleter will be joined by Annea Lockwood (USA), Michal Murin (Slovakia) and Domenico de Clario (Perth) to present a range of installations and activities around the notion of decay and decomposition and its relation to the iconic Western classical instrument – the piano.
Ruined Piano Labyrinth
The central space at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) will feature extra Ruined Pianos from around WA. Each piano not only has its unique range of sounds and sculptural idiosyncrasies but brings with it its own physical and social history.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 51 James St, Perth Cultural Centre
Friday 30th September – Sunday 9th October
Gallery Hours: 11am–6pm, Tuesday–Sunday
Opening: 6pm, Friday 30th September - Download your invitation
Free
Ruined Piano Tour
Ruined Piano, Goomalling
photo by Peter Illari
Across the Convergence the participating artists will take the public on guided tours featuring talks, performances and interactive processes.
Saturday 1st, Saturday 8th, & Sunday 2nd October
All tours begin at 2pm
Free
Secret Sandhills: To the Memory of Timmy Payungka Tjapangati
Special surround sound presentations of Ross Bolleter’s ruined piano work.
“I don’t treat Timmy Tjapangati’s painting as a visual score, but rather as a force fi eld of luminous power - a matrix of the timeful and the timeless that informs and inspires the musical shapes and textures.” - Ross Bolleter
6pm, Saturday 1st & Tuesday 4th October
Free Entry
Michal Murin
Sound artist, mathematician, economist and academic Michal Murin (Slovakia) has been collaborating with Ross Bolleter over the past 10 years. As well as collaborating on new projects as part of the First Ever Ruined Piano Convergence, Michal will present solo installations and performances:
Piano Hotel
Coffin Prepared Piano for Silence of John Cage
Your Name in My Signature
Michal lectures in new media, performance art, intermedia and sound art at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno (Czech) and in multimedia and contemporary art at the Academy of Arts in Banska Bystrica (Slovakia).
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 51 James St, Perth Cultural Centre
6pm, Sunday 2nd, Wednesday 5th & Friday 7th October
Door Sales $15/$10
SATELLITE EVENTS
Tonglen: event for suspended piano
Domenico de Clario Performance
Domenico has been revisiting the work of modernist/ conceptual/fluxus artists in his practice over the last two years or so, with large projects involving the work of Australian painters (seven times thank you at goddard de fiddes in Perth and at arc1 in Melbourne) and more recently a performance at the breadbox based on the work of Italian-Greek arte povera artist Jannis Kounellis.
As part of the Convergence opening night, Domenico will present a suspension event that refers to the early Stelarc performances of the Seventies and Eighties.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 51 James St, Perth Cultural Centre
6.30pm, Friday 30th September
Burning Piano
photo by C.Kidder
Burning Piano
Annea Lockwood
“needs a defunct (i.e. unplayable but intact) upright piano (grands don’t look as beautiful nor burn as effectively), balloons, a little cigarette lighter fl uid and a match. It’s best done at night - the fl ames look gorgeous then, and is that simple. It usually takes about 3 hours because I start it burning slowly, down in one corner and it takes a long time to burn out entirely” - Annea Lockwood
Bar and bbq facilities will be on site, bring a picnic blanket or chair.
Millenden House, Upper Swan
7pm, Sunday 9th October
Entry $10
Southern Exposure: Piano Transplant Number 4
Annea Lockwood
“needs a defunct piano, and an anchor, and moving team. As I envision it - we would set it up on the sand, at the high tide line, attach the anchor, raise the lid, and leave it there indefi nitely. The idea is that it will only be in the water periodically, so it might remain sounding for some time. We watch the processes of water, sand, wind working on it.” - Annea Lockwood
Annea Lockwood, born in New Zealand and living in the United States, is perhaps most infamously known for her Piano Transplants (1969-72), in which defunct pianos were variously burned, drowned in a shallow pond in Amarillo, Texas, and partially buried in an English garden. Much of her music has been recorded on the Lovely Music, XI, ¿WhatNext?/ OO Discs, Rattle (New Zealand), Harmonia Mundi, and CRI record labels.
On view Bathers Beach, Fremantle
Monday 3rd to Sunday 16th October
Free
The First Ever Ruined Piano Convergence is Presented in association with the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts - www.pica.org.au
