David Byrne on BBTV

June 11th, 2008 by Roy Christopher

Our favorite Talking Head, David Byrne, turns an entire old building in New York City into a giant sound machine in an installation called “Playing the Building.” Xeni Jardin takes a tour for bOING bOING TV.

Under David’s manipulation, New York’s hundred-year-old Battery Maritime Building becomes a giant sound sculpture. He explains:

Devices [have been] attached to the building’s structure — to the metal beams and pillars, the heating pipes, the water pipes — and are used to make these things produce sound. The activations are of three types: wind, vibration, striking. The devices cause the building elements to vibrate, resonate, and oscillate so that the building itself becomes a very large musical instrument.

More importantly, the organ that drives the installation is approachable and playable by anyone. The idea is to erase or smudge the line between “the creators and consumers of culture.” The skewed nature of the contraption and sounds razes the virtuoso expectations — anyone is likely to play this structure as well as anyone else, exemplifying Byrne’s belief that, “anyone can be a writer, artist, or musician if they want to.”

See it here.

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8 Responses to “David Byrne on BBTV”

  • j ragel Says:
    June 12th, 2008 at 8:12 am

    this guy is the ultimate bad ass.

  • Roy Christopher Says:
    June 12th, 2008 at 8:27 am

    For once, we agree on something, Jon.

  • J. Wallace Says:
    June 12th, 2008 at 6:06 pm

    You know, I love the sentiment, but I have to say that there’s something completely disingenuous about Byrne saying “anybody can be an artist, writer, or musician if they want to”. Byrne knows damn well that you can be a SHITTY artist, writer and especially musician if you want to. But it takes a hell of a lot more to be even a mediocre musician or painter. I agree with the sentiment in my own twisted way—I think maybe Byrne’s real axe to grind is more accurately described as “everybody should have access to the tools”. But that idea that we’re all GOOD artists? Ridiculous.

  • Roy Christopher Says:
    June 12th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Well, duh!

  • j ragel Says:
    June 13th, 2008 at 7:41 am

    @my dawgs: I agree with the statement “anyone can be a writer, artist, or musician if they want to” as the most important aspects of art to me are found in experiencing creativity and fostering social interactions. Naturally, not anyone can be a PRO writer, artist, or musician unless they have a successful business model of some sort. I’m guessing Byrne is thinking along the lines of the former view of art while many of us think of arts in terms of career path.

    Is it just a matter of semantics?

  • Roy Christopher Says:
    June 13th, 2008 at 10:38 am

    It’s less a matter semantics and more a matter of articulating the idea better. How about this?

    It is sometimes claimed that technology makes it so that anyone can perform a certain task, like Photoshop made everyone an artist or Pro Tools made everyone a record producer. We make or tools and our tools make us (as Marshall McLuhan once said), but our tools do not make us great.

    The idea that the internet and Pro Tools and — whatever else the advent and proliferation of the computer hath wrought — enables anyone to be an artist is both true and false. True, everyone has the tools to do so, but so few people have the talent. The latter is and always will be the case.

    New technologies are normalizing events. Think of it like a crosstown street race where the traffic signals are normalizing events. One might be in the lead for a good bit of the ride, but as soon as everyone is stopped at a traffic light, the race effectively starts over. By way of convoluted analogy, one might be “ahead” in the home production process until Soundforge’s new software hits the scene.

    Sure, there are people making money producing music who are not that good, but that doesn’t mean that anyone can compete with Dr. Dre just because he or she sets up a MySpace page and posts some loops from Acid. I’ve heard this argument so often lately, that anyone can cut-and-paste a record together and become a producer. If that were true, then why does Dr. Dre even have a career? Simple: Because he’s good at what he does. Let everyone try it! [from here

  • Roy Christopher Says:
    June 13th, 2008 at 10:40 am

    As DJ Scratch once said, “The reason we respect something as an art is because it’s hard as fuck to do.”

  • J. Wallace Says:
    June 13th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    @J Ragel–I like where you’re coming from there, I tend to think of creative endeavors more along the lines of the event itself–there are plenty of times for me when the band starting the show or the program beginning is actually anti-climatic because of the social stuff.

    One of the reasons bars and clubs drive me batty–punishing volumes. That old 90s idea of the chill-out room is something that really should be brought back. For the patrons, I mean–the bands can escape punishing volumes and actually have a conversation, but for the punters, it’s near impossible.

    I remember living in Iceland and watching Euro MTV’s Chillout Zone, broadcast at “post club” times for people coming down off the night….a great concept. Lots of Orb, Aphex Twin, etc programmed to be low-volume and enjoyable sonic wallpaper.

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