Founding member of Talking Heads, David Byrne, has created a giant musical instrument from an entire building in New York City entitled Playing the Building. An antique church organ is used to activate devices attached to the building’s structure, which produce a wide range of sounds. The organ doesn’t produce any sounds but its keyboard is connected to different devices that makes the structure of the building produce sounds. The activations are of three types: wind, vibration, and striking. They manipulate pipes, metal beams, and pillars so that the elements become part of the musical instrument. Visitors are invited to play the organ and thereby create their own unique piece of music. Playing the Building was originally on display at Färgfabriken in Stockholm in 2005. The current installation is on display until August 10th at the Battery Maritime Building in New York.
