Allora & Calzadilla: Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on „Ode to Joy” for a Prepared Piano

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Blending sculpture and performance, the artists have carved a hole in the center of an early twentieth century Bechstein piano, creating a void in which the performer stands to play the Fourth Movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, usually referred to as Ode to Joy. During the performance a pianist will lean over the piano’s keyboard, playing upside down and mirrored, while moving the instrument around the Mies van der Rohe‘s Hall.