Allora & Calzadilla — 'Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on 'Ode to Joy' for a Prepared Piano'

Overview

Sydney's egalitarian, not-for-profit organisation Kaldor Public Art Projects is currently celebrating 50 years of bringing groundbreaking, immersive artworks to the Aussie public. To mark this half century of shaping Australia's art space, Kaldor is hosting a free retrospective — Making Art Public — at the Art Gallery of NSW. Each of Kaldor's 34 previous projects has been reimagined and created by noted British artist Michael Landy. One showstopper is Allora & Calzadilla's Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on 'Ode to Joy' for a Prepared Piano, which is making its Sydney debut this month.

If you're a fan of both art and piano concerto, you can catch this artwork every day until Wednesday, October 30. You'll see the pianists attempt Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' on an adjusted piano that can be played from within, and walked across the gallery floor, in AGNSW's Entrance Court. Part music, part performance and part sculpture, Stop, Repair, Prepare was first performed in Melbourne back in 2012 as part of Kaldor Public Art Project #26, with the aim to create an experience through dance and music where the audience plays just as important a part as the choreographed performers.

Allora & Calzadilla's Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on 'Ode to Joy' for a Prepared Piano runs from Thursday, October 17 through to Wednesday, October 30. It will be performed every hour on the hour from 11am–4pm every day, with extended hours until 7pm on Wednesdays, October 23 and 30. On Wednesday evenings you can also hear the pianists speak about the work in an intimate Q&A from 6.30pm.