University of Leeds
Woodhouse, Leeds LS2 9JT

PIANO

by Colin Frank

Inspired by John Cage’s prepared piano with bolts and screws between its strings to change the sound, this design looks at maintain the quality of the instrument, but somehow extending it. 

Portholes into the piano see the interior mechanisms themselves become part of the painting palette. Sound activated LED lights makes the instrument respond colourfully to how people play it, and the addition of polyurethane foam gives smooth curves on its back, almost like icing on top, making it more enticing to touch.

SCULPTURE

Pianola Nova - Pianola 1

A technologically enhanced acoustic upright piano stands alone and, as if by magic, plays itself. Old technology meets new. Is this piano conscious? Or like an electron quantum-entangled to another is it a send and receive piano? If so – where is the other end of the line? In the next room? Or on the next planet? And how would you know? In this sculpture, the universal language of sound connects us through an internet assisted piano portal. 

This prototype pair of ‘Pianodes’ connecting two pianos in Leeds and Edinburgh has been developed by Pianodrome exclusively for the Leeds International Piano Festival in collaboration with Edinburgh University Creative Informatics department and Tinderbox Collective.