Written Response | Procedure, Instruction & the Aleatory

Class 2  |  Assignment  |  Procedure, Instruction & the Aleatory  |  Written Response

Art Movement: Fluxus [1959-1978]

Artwork: Piano Activities

Artists: Philip Corner

Year: 1962

Piano Activities

Fluxus Festival 1962
Piano Acitivities at 4.44 - 5.37


“Piano Activities” a performance art by Philip Corner was one of various performance, concert, exhibition pieces featured at the first official Fluxus Festival at Wiesbaden, Germany in 1962. The footage shows a group of flux’s artists gradually breaking a Grand Piano to pieces that it eventually become trash. 


I believe Corner's intentions were to challenge the conventional practice of how we play listen and enjoy music of classical music instruments. It seems that Fluxus artists approach art through everyday’s culture to get their point across, for instance, going to a theatre to enjoy the show, thus using a grand piano. A classical music instrument, which I believe that it is a symbol for high art which was supposed to be played meticulously from composition sheets that are written by trained pianist or composers as the right way to use the piano. However, through their act of literally demolishing the piano, their strategy were to deliberately rebel against of what art should be.


By using human’s behavior as a key element to perform, each show is unique and cannot be created exactly the same again no matter how precise and strict each performers follow Corner’s instructions. Therefore, the sound created were left by chance and decisions making of the performers. They are also a composer of the artwork, as well as the audience’s as they are laughing, booing, and coughing. 


To me, if I only listen to the recording of the show without watching it at the same time, I found myself drawn to some of the noises created in the show. At some point, the collective of noises (maybe) sound like they are in sync and sound like music for a second but then gone the next. This kind of unplanned composition would not have been possible if Fluxus artists did not go against the authority, threw away music sheets, and scripts but instead follow Corner’s loose instructions. Piano Activities, opened up possibilities to experience new form of listening as well as freedom to perform as though they became kids again, playing piano the first time, and the grand piano were their playground. 
 

Philip Corner's Instuction on Piano Activities

Piano Activities Excerpts

Festival of Fantastics Roskilde 1985,
www.artvideo.tv