A Democratic Machine; Turning Neglected Spaces Into A Mechanical Orchestra

Pump organs usually sell for around £100. They are neglected, don't play in tune with most others instruments and have little or no value left to the general public. Not to mention the hundreds that are falling into disrepair.

The Färgfabriken in Stockholm, the Battery Maritime Building in New York and the Roundhouse in London are all buildings of a similar great historical importance. These often overlooked architectural spaces had difficulties to overcome and are in a state of deterioration. Possibly that is why they were all subject to Byrne's operative installation.

The ritual object is positioned in the centre and physically tied to the building. It sparks thoughts of an architectural relationship?-?the marriage of the industrial and the ephemeral. There is a concerning yet romanticised aura in the mismatch of the two spatial elements. As if the architecture or the organ were in critical condition and one were supporting the other on a life support machine.

Byrne trails colour coded wires and cables from loose fixtures and fittings and drapes them within the empty space. He interlaces these between dormant flaring pipes and solenoids. All of which are then gravitationally pulled towards the archaic instrument?-?the pump organ.

The innards of the organ have been removed and the keys now act like switches. By pressing the different keys, various devices and mechanisms throughout the space are activated. Neither electronic sounds nor microphones are used resulting in the hollow building being mechanically transformed in to an instrument.

Playing the building sounds like you are gradually decimating it. As if the space will come crumbling down and collapse at your feet! Visitors feel a surreal sensation of hearing various parts of the building coming to life. Some sounds float above your head. Whereas some come from the corners and create a deep echoing sound.

There are components running off of compressed air. A flute-like sound is made by having air pass across the holes in the services pipes. This compressed air is redirected from a stored supply, through the organ switches and out to the pipes. The sound is ghostly in the open space?-?quite a chilling set of keys. Some mechanisms are a lot more complex. Electromagnets that cause a metal rod to hit various objects are placed within the space. These rods hit plumbing, cast iron columns and radiators to create a clanking sound similar to that within a steel factory.

The phenomenon resembles a dream where you are directly influencing it. The creation is a democratic machine where everyone is reduced to the same level with an equal decisive power. Resulting in you as a visitor, reaching into the far corners of this space and determining which sounds will be made and where they will come from.

Convincingly, the idea behind the installation displays an unauthored approach. That it takes public participation for it to work. Everyone seems to be playing on the same grounds in this project?-?each route can be tracked, each mechanism can be identified yet each user journey is different.

"Seeing what it is about, is really. [it] happens in the act of playing it."