Ahn Kyuchul’s Nocturne No. 20/Counterpoint is a duet created by a pianist who plays the same piece at a specific time and a tuner who randomly removes one of the 88 hammers of the piano after each performance. The performance consists of each independent action performed by the pianist and the tuner. Each time the note on the piano keyboard decreases one by one, the performance disintegrates gradually and finally approaches the silence. The time of the performance annihilates ‘sound’ and creates random noise. The independent performers and the constantly changing piano and performance are different every moment they act and move in every exhibition. Nocturne No. 20/Counterpoint is accidental and indeterminate, like Fluxus art.
The 111 score drawings filling the wall are individual 50 notes from the lowest to the highest that make up Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne No. 20. The artist conceived this piece from the story of people playing an old piano in an empty lot in a back alley in Havana and a swarm of white ants relentlessly gnawing at the piano keys. The artist says, “I oppose art that settles for typical and predictable responses and solutions,” and tries to create a small crack in the implicit order of art museums through the work.
- Artist
- Ahn Kyuchul
- Date
- 2013(2020)
- Classifications
- performance , sculpture·installation
- Medium
- piano, pencil on printed paper (111 pieces)
- Dimensions
- variable – 29×21cm(drawing)
- Collection No
- 268