Playing the Building
David Byrne
Battery Maritime Building, 10 South Street
May 31–August 10, 2008
Photo: Justin Ouellette
A 9,000-square-foot, interactive, site-specific installation by renowned artist David Byrne. The artist transformed the interior of the landmark Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan into a massive sound sculpture that all visitors were invited to sit and “play.” The project consisted of a retrofitted antique organ, placed in the center of the building’s cavernous second-floor gallery, that controlled a series of devices attached to its structural features—metal beams, plumbing, electrical conduits, and heating and water pipes. These machines vibrated, struck, and blew across the building’s elements, triggering unique harmonics and producing finely tuned sounds.
