We are seeking museums and comparable exhibition spaces that may be interested in presenting the Installation/Performance versions of the piece. We look forward to collaborative ideas and discussions. Please contact us.
Set up requirements, get used to it man thats the way we live now ... Installation/Performance version
The performance space should be isolated acoustically from other rooms, perhaps with two sets of doors (similar to an airlock concept, but not literally one) to enable the public to enter or leave at will without introducing sound in or out.
Duration: Entire piece about 37 minutes. The public should always be free to come and go just as they are at any other exhibition, as long as provision is taken for minimal interruption to others listening.
The Installation/Performance version is played by a Spirio which is designed to precisely realize any of the MIDI performances residing in the queue. By precise, we mean with a virtually undetectable difference between a live pianist at the keyboard and that same pianist who recorded on the instrument at an earlier time, or another instrument, time and place altogether.
Throughout the duration of the Installation/Performance we encourage the participating pianists to listen to the piece as it is evolving - at the actual site or streamed - and to record and upload their designated fragments additional times. After vetting, these new versions will also enter the mix. Thus throughout the duration of an Installation/Performance, the pool is refreshed and updated on an ongoing basis. One effect is that every performance throughout the time of the Installation/Performance will be unique, and over the duration of the Installation/Performance there may be a vector of interpretation overall that evolves.
From time to time during the Installation/Performance, a participating pianist might perform (and can also record via MIDI to our platform) a live performance on the instrument on site, subject to the "rules of the game" as determined by the venue. Such performances can be granted greater or lesser weight with respect to the recorded ones informing the Installation/Performance. We look forward to collaborating with venue hosts on such details and protocols, as they are best determined with respect to specifics of the Installation/Performance venue.
Additionally we encourage venue hosts to collaborate with us on the development of a dynamic video dimension. What we expect to be the content is imagery of the 15 pianists participating - but not their performances. The overall intent of the video imagery will be to reveal something about the individuality and character of the performer who at that moment is (virtually) "at the keyboard". For example, what the audience sees on the video wall could well be the pianist doing something else entirely, something of particular value to that individual other than playing the piano, which we would not know about the person otherwise. Among the goals of the project is to reveal more of the performers' person than is ordinarily communicated by hearing a performance alone.
The choice of content will be largely between the video artist and the participating performers. We won't speculate further here.
Such details as the overall duration of the Installation/Performance and the frequency and timing of performances during exhibition hours are largely at the discretion of the hosting institution.
© currawong project 2022