Playing Piano is a partially deconstructed, upright player piano, prepared in the spirit of John Cage. This fully mechanized 1920s piano is animated by a motor and pneumatics (as opposed to being played by a person). A perforated paper roll, the physical translation of the musical score, controls the playing of the original piano parts. An array of vibration sensors placed on the piano’s strings, in conjunction with a computer and a series of microprocessors, enables the player piano to control the preparations. Preparations include: various machines to strum and press a pie plate against the strings, toy whistle blowing machines, and microphones to amplify various parts of the piano’s mechanics.
Exhibition History: 2009 Robert Langen Gallery (Waterloo, Canada); 2009 Dalhousie Art Gallery (Halifax, Canada); 2008 Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, Canada); 2008 YYZ Artists’ Outlet (Toronto, Canada)
Release: Hlady, Marla. “Playing Piano”. Musicworks 101, Musicworks, Summer 2008.
Interview: “Meet the Artists, with Sara Angelucci, Spring Hurlut and Marla Hlady.” AGO Talks from Art Gallery of Ontario Podcast, 8 January, 2014.
Press: Adler, Dan. “Marla Hlady: YYZ Artists Outlet.” Artforum, April 2008, pp. 279.
Dick, Terence. “Review: Playing Piano.” Akimbo. January 2008. Print.
“Probes #5.” Curated by Chris Cutler from RWM Radio Web MACBA, 27 August, 2013, http://rwm.macba.cat/en/probes_tag.
“CAFKA.09: Marla Hlady.” YouTube, uploaded by CAFKATV, 16 July, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnJrB3raSSE&feature=youtu.be (Interview)
Goddard, Peter. “At The Galleries.” Toronto Star, February 9, 2008, E15. Print.
Hlady, Marla. “Playing Piano.” Musicworks, vol. 101, Summer, 2008, pp. 64. Print.
Anderson, Shannon. “Marla Hlady: The Art of Noise.” Canadian Art. Spring: 2013. 92-97.
Hatt, Gordon. “Marla Hlady: Playing Piano.” YYZine, vol. 8, no. 1, 2008, pp. 4-6.
See also: Playing Piano (vinyl) (2020)
