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Course: The Museum of Modern Art > Unit 1
Lesson 3: Behind the scenes at MoMA- Conserving Henri Matisse's "The Swimming Pool"
- Framing "Christina's World" by Andrew Wyeth
- Installation of Richard Serra's sculptures at MoMA
- Conservation | Pollock, "One: Number 31, 1950"
- Conservation | Picasso's Guitars
- Conservation | Paik, "Untitled," 1993
- Conservation | René Magritte, "The Portrait," 1935
- Conservation | René Magritte, "The False Mirror," 1928
- Conservation | René Magritte, "The Menaced Assassin," 1927
- Conservation | René Magritte, "The Palace of Curtains, III," 1928-29
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Conservation | Paik, "Untitled," 1993
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- Would it be more authentic to try to reproduce the position of the wires as they originally were, or to place them haphazardly as had been done by the original artist?(15 votes)
- Excellent question! I look forward to see what responses you get for this.
Personally, my very inexperienced-in-art opinion is that it would be more authentic to the spirit of the piece to reproduce the positioning of the wires, but more authentic to the spirit of the artist to do it haphazardly.(14 votes)
- 3:31- What is a "fluxist" (spelling?) artist?(6 votes)
- A fluxus artist is one who is always in flux - always changing and noted for blending many different media types into one entire work. Neo-Dada noise music, visual art, and architecture are all included in this type of art.(5 votes)
- This was to be the most unique sculpture/art thing (I have no idea what to call this) I have ever seen. What song does it play?(4 votes)
- how are the keys moving if there is a mp3 player(3 votes)
- Although I can not be sure, the video mentions that the piano also has a 'player piano' mechanism. It seems to me that these were originally powered by a 'wind-up, spring powered mechanism'. I surmise that there is some digital to mechanical electric powered interface taking the place of the spring. The Mp3 only replaced an obsolete previous electronic device(3 votes)
- Thanks. However, I was concerned that the tv monitors were stacked directly on top of the piano.
Over time won't the weight stress the piano, and damage it?(2 votes)- That is certainly a great point, but keep in mind that pianos are extremely strong. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds of pressure being exerted on the instrument due to the tension of its many strings. Also, the top cases of upright pianos are made out of thick, hard wood, and so the comparatively light weight of the television monitors will be no big deal, because the piano was built for endurance and longevity.(2 votes)
- Are there any examples of works involving technology like this one that just could not be restored because the electronics failed and were irreparable and irreplaceable?(1 vote)
- how was the piano being played automatically?(1 vote)
- Usually all you have to do is wind it up like on a victrola or some one goes up to the piano and holds a pedal on it.(1 vote)
- Is this work worthy of the time , effort and money to restore it? especially after just 20 years? Will it be worth restoring, again, in 2033? At one point, will it not merely be discarded?(0 votes)
- Yes. That's probably why that they are restoring it. sigh Can you please stop judging art works like that?(1 vote)
Video transcript
[piano music] We're here in the Imaging Studios After installing Nam June Paik's "Untitled" piano work from 1993, and we're celebrating the moment of completion of a two-year conservation project This work is either a conservation nightmare or a conservation dream that has every problem it could possibly have for a video sculpture Some of the elements are either not functioning or wouldn't be functioning soon in the future The sculpture consists of an upright piano modified with a player piano unit I looked at the piano and realized the piano itself is in need of repair They recommended a firm that they authorize He took one look at it and said This piano is in terrible shape The keys are peeling up, the hammers are coming off there were parts that are worn out We went through a very detailed condition assessment some of the hammers and some of the elements that were wearing away, we did repair and replaced them 15 different television sets melded on top and on the sides and on the floor next to the piano We contacted CTL electronics down at Canal Street The owner, CT Louie, used to work with Nam June Paik He has a good understanding of what Paik would want in replacing CRT technologies One of the things we wanted was to obtain a complete back up set so we did that The television sets play four different video feeds Two of the video feeds come from the security cameras In addition there's a spotlight The two other video channels come from laser discs which are mounted on the floor and these laser disc players are playing videos that Nam June Paik made One of them is a video of his mentor, John Cage, with images of Merce Cunningham, and the other is an abstract video of piano keys moving When we acquired the work, the two video streams ran on umanick tapes When it was installed at Moma, the artist was here and he authorized my grading to laser disc We did migrate the laser discs so we now have them on uncompressed, Quicktime files In the future, Moma staff is gonna have to make a big decision Piano is operated by originally a floppy disc drive Five and a half inch floppy disc drive We replaced that with an mp3 player that's mounted in back of that Paik signed the work on the last two piano keys He actually signed his name and the date so that makes it all the more special The installation took place yesterday Fortunately, we have really good documentation Many photographs of the work from its prior installations detailed step by step instructions on how to install the work and I'm sure Nam June Paik would be laughing at us because when he originally installed it, it was just haphazard, the wires were hanging on the sides, but we wanted to get them right Because he was a performing artist, because he was a fluxus artist, he incorporated chance What we do now isn't what he would do if he were alive, and yet we're challenged We're trying to make decisions that would somehow be in keeping with his intentions I was worried that we wouldn't be able to show it in the future since it's dependent on these technologies that go obsolescent over time And just seeing it altogether after these two years of work is really exciting for me It's just gratifying to see it and to hear it and to be able to celebrate this moment [lively piano music]