THE SILVER PIANO
Saturday Apr 19, 2008 - 7PM
Saturday Apr 19, 2008 - 7PM
1345 DIVISION
ste 101
NEW DETROIT, MI 48207
THE SILVER PIANO - Electric Kalimba Art by Warren Defever, Hitoko Sakai, and Elliot Bergman April 19 Opening Reception 7-11pm
SPREAD THE WORD...
April 19 Opening Reception 7-11pm
April 26 Electric Kalimba performance
April 29 Closing Party
The Silver Piano is an interactive installation / exhibition with kalimbas not only hung on the gallery walls but also with an army of electric kalimbas plugged into amplifiers for all to play
Sometimes referred to as a thumb piano (or mbira, likembe, or sanza), the basic design concept for the kalimba has been around for thousands of years.Inspired by the work of African artists Francis Bebey , Kinshasa'sKonono No.1, as well as American composers Phil Cohran, Yusef Lateef,and Stanley Cowell, three local artists have been hand-craftingelectric kalimbas and have been organizing art exhibits, concerts andinstallations all over the world.Warren Defever, Hitoko Sakai, and Elliot Bergman began makingelectric kalimbas about two years ago.
As members of Detroit faves HIS NAME IS ALIVE and NOMO, these three artists started building their own musical instruments as needed, and soon inquisitive audiences and other musicians wanted to know more about the source of the exoticsounds. They found themselves making more kalimbas and selling themat concerts.
"It got out of hand really quickly," says War, "We've made about two hundred so far. We recently got a grant and did a residency in New York, it was pretty fancy. I'm excited to bring it home to Detroit."
Three events April 19th - 29th provide everything from thousand year old earth-toned electronic music to mountains of droning ringingfeedback.
THE SILVER PIANO is a performance-based piece and acelebration of electricity, traditional music and craft, and magicalvibrations!!!
ARTIST STATEMENT by Warn Defever :
I haven't completely abandoned commercial music or representationalpainting but instead have recently begun a motivational shift fromself-consciously creating objects that were at once explicitlypersonal and (lyrics, songs, photographs, portraits, paintings, etc)to proposing a new relationship between the critic, the collector, andthe casual consumer. The hand crafted kalimba resists persistentassociation and comparison to previous work. Minimalist silver andwooden boxes with small metal tines do not quite confer withsculptural analytic expectations. My previous work thrived in aspecial area I made my own, formed between alternative popular cultureand the imagined mainstream. This new work demonstrates interest inthe specific world of solid objects, objects not in the domain ofabstract insights and symbolic value. The electric kalimba islabor-intensive, an anonymous investment of craft, and possibly noteven recognized by the high-art tradition which celebrates qualitiessuch as illusion, religious feeling, dreaming, and artistic creation.