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When, so strangely, those giant potted plants and lounge chairs started appearing in the middle of midtown Manhattan in the middle of the main streets, it made us stand up and take notice. Or sit down and take a break. Now, another “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” moment is coming, and another kind of sit-down experience. Sixty --count ‘em sixty -- upright pianos are about to be placed on display throughout the city as a public art installation, with the public (this means you) invited to sit down and tickle the ivories.
Pianos, decorated in various ways, will be seen in June in such city locations as Battery Park and the Bronx Zoo, where monkeying around on the 88s may or may not be off-limits to the monkeys and others who’d be likely to play with four feet or fins. The display is courtesy of British artist Luke Jerram, and New York is the latest stop on an international tour for the pianos in question. Last year, they went to five cities around the world. The exhibit is titled “Play Me, I’m Yours.”
Funding comes from the non-profit organization called Sing for Hope, and hopes are high that this will “play well” in the city. The traveling keyboards are also being promoted by the singer Alicia Keys (make up your own “keys” pun), who was quoted as saying, “Things like this make me extra proud to be a New Yorker.” In some cities, pianos have been placed in spots as diverse as bus shelters, laundromats, and football grounds. According to Mr. Jerram’s statement, “The pianos act as sculptural, musical empty canvases that become a reflection of the communities they are embedded into.” He also observed that folks in a neighborhood often occupy the same space but never talk to each other, and he sees the piano playing as a “catalyst” to break the ice.
Pianos on display in some cities were later donated to schools and community groups, and public reaction from Brazil to Australia has been favorable. Longtime New Yorkers who recall the installations of Central Park’s bright orange flags called The Gates and the invasion of cow statues that mooooooved across the city, may take it as just one more change of landscape, and dance as they pass. But we at NiteLife Exchange can’t help but wonder if the cabaret world’s MAC Awards will have a new category of “Piano Instrumentalist/Vocalist: Outdoor.”
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