Stop, Repair, Prepare
Guillermo Calzadilla
& Jennifer Allora’s artistic practice is one routed in collaboration
and the two have worked together since 1995. Their artistic practice is interdisciplinary
and utilizes sculpture, performance, sound, video and photography. Routed
deeply in conceptual practice the works are usually quite political (a
reflection no doubt of being based in San Paulo). Included in the 26th
Kaldor project their work Stop, Repair,
Prepare a ‘sculptural performance
consist[ing] of a grand piano with a hole in its body through which a pianist
stands and plays Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” (the anthem of the European Union as
well as the inauguration song for a Nazi propoganda building) while laboriously
pushing the instrument around the space’.[1]
A
work that is no doubt Euro centric in its use of motifs but one that would no
doubt performed in the State Library of Victoria is one that is not removed of
its political agenda. This choice of site being one that is the usual meeting
place for any protest worth the media’s attention in Melbourne. The Piano is
utilized not only for its sonic capabilities but also for an aesthetic of High
class. When modified to be played form an unconventional stance (this being
from inside the body) the work is transformed into a vehicle for a voice that
seeks to also play upon the expected conceptions of Beethoven’s musical piece.
The violence of the aural sound (encapsulated in its use of the Nazi regime) is
questioned by this utilization in an unconvential manner.
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