Piano Vectors
for 6 pianos: a world premiere by John King

Laura Barger
Taka Kigawa
Joseph Kubera
Jenny Lin
Tania Tachkova
Ning Yu

A major work of 80 minutes in duration for our 30,000 square foot main exhibition space, Piano Vectors for 6 pianos filled Knockdown with rich textures of sound. Each solo pianist was seated at a piano at a chance-determined location. This composition was begun with a system of organizing time, and this system in turn generated all subsequent musical and spatial elements. Imagine the 6 pianists traveling through space and time, each at their own rate, speeding up or stretching time in chance-determined and improvised ways. Piano Vectors explores and summarizes King’s ideas on the organization of time and space as the primary focus of sound.

AUDITORIUM was an extended evening of site-specific electronic and electroacoustic performances organized by artists/curators Lea Bertucci and Tristan Shepherd. The focal point for this event was a custom 10-channel sound system installed throughout the 50,000 square feet of Knockdown Center. This system acted as the point of departure for multichannel works by innovative sound-based artists Nate Wooley, Sabisha Friedberg,Marina Rosenfeld, Woody Sullender, and Phil Niblock. Bertucci and Shepherd commissioned new works from the seven composers, instrumentalists and audio artists to develop works uniquely suited to the site. The project culminated in a day-long event in which the selected artists presented their projects on site in a roving auditory experience.

For the 2015 iteration of this event, now in its third year, the event drew on a roster of artists whose work represents diverse perspectives, some as instrumentalists, others who come from a sculptural/installation based sound practice and still others whose work centers more on composition.

Curated by Joe Ahearn, presented by Clocktower Productions

This event is made possible, in part, by the Queens Council an the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Presented by Red Bull Music Academy, Drone Activity In Progress, sixteen solo of today’s most daring sound artists and duos performed on three stages filling the massive space of the Knockdown Center with the thundering noise, drone and experimental techno.