Piano

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The Piano was modelled on a circa 1920 Bosendorfer grand which was made in Vienna from meticulous measurements taken from a real one at Lloyd and Keyworths in Farnham. It was made for the Artvaults exhibition run by a Space in Southampton.
The building, the medieval Weighhouse where it was exhibited was bombed during the WWII blitz on the city and remains roofless.

I wanted to make an object that symbolised the survival of culture against all odds. Something that whilst dumb would react, through rust, to its environment.
There is a stillness about it, almost as if a pianist is about to start a recital but as you get closer you realise that it has a wave instead of keys and will never make a sound.

The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.

I like the idea of people engaging with the piece and composing their own tunes playing ’air piano’.