Classical Convert

Building Played

Yo dudes. This weekend was another one of those jaunt-down-to-the-city type deals, hence the lack of posts being stuck up here. G’s square footage is only just large enough to contain a bed and inflatable mattress, so that doing things such as extracting ethernet cables or finding a spot to perch a laptop are a tad more challenging than expected. However, this isn’t terribly problematic since most of the day is spent exploring things in the Av.’s and St.’s.

One particular extravaganza which caused (somewhat) zany hijinks to ensue was the successful meandering of us into that aforementioned installation, Playing The Building. Yes, yours truly totally got his hands all over that particular organ. The instrument, you filthy so-and-so.

The building which contains the exhibit — the Battery Maritime Building –  is also the terminal for the Governor’s Island ferry, and sits right next to Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan. After signing a waiver (!) you traipse up a flight of appealingly disheveled stairs and through several cavernous rooms which look out over upper New York bay. Through the final doorway emanate the whistles and rattles of the instrument, punctuated by short periods of silence as the next performer takes their place at the bench.

The organ room itself is huge, and hot. The organ is under a spotlight, with the words “PLEASE PLAY” stenciled in front of it in white paint on the concrete floor. There are about twenty people waiting in line to play, and just as many wandering around examining the devices attached to the pillars and pipes and radiators as they are activated by the current guy or gal behind the keyboard.

Some people are clearly pianists. They sit down and attempt to play a rendition of a familiar piece, but quickly give up after a few bars. The low keys control generators attached to beams in the roof; the keys in the middle control airflow through pipes on the wall; and on the right you can activate solenoids which smack steel bars into the metal pillars. The pipes are reminiscent of a diatonic scale, but the pillars and generators are certainly not.

The couple in front of us try to hold down all the keys at once, but it seems as though only a certain number of objects can be activated simultaneously. When it is my turn I try to alternate between playing all of the generators — which give off a threatening low grinding roar — and rapidly running through all of the percussive pillar actuators. When I get up someone applauds, just a little bit, which makes me smile.

It’s quite a bizarre experience: oddly not so much the actual playing of the instrument but the experience of performing in front of a roomful of people on an instrument which you have no idea how to play. It actually feels kind of intimidating when you are at the front of the queue, but almost as soon as you sit down you are consumed with discovering what all of the keys are connected to, and what kind of sonic environment you can string together.

If you are in the area I totally recommend it. Did I mention that it’s free?