I was meant to get these pictures off my phone a while ago but never got round to doing it. They’re pictures from David Byrne’s exhibition Playing the Building which was at the Roundhouse in Camden which Giles and I went to visit in August.
The piece featured a central organ which was attached to various points through the roof of the building via wires which had various sound-producing devices on the end such as solenoids (small hammer-like devices that strike whatever they are resting on), air-tubes (which blow air into the pipes creating flute-like tones), and motors (these cause the girders of the building to vibrate). As the keys of the organ were pressed an electric current gets sent to the corresponding device (via the wires) which triggers what it is that each contraption does.
It wasn’t a bad exhibition, however, it became clear that people were struggling to make something that sounded pleasing to the ear, but to be fair this probably wasn’t Byrne’s main priority when creating the piece.
