Annea fishing for sound in the Danube, 2005. Photo: Ruth Anderson.
Annea Lockwood - pianoburning Photo: Geoff Adams
"Set upright piano (not a grand) in an open space with the lid closed.
Spill a little lighter fluid on a twist of paper and place inside, near the pedals.
Light it.
Balloons may be stapled to the piano.
Play whatever pleases you for as long as you can."
This is the score for Annea Lockwood's 1968 piece Piano Burning. She's done other things to the instrument - drowned one in a swamp, planted one in the garden, and tied one to helium balloons.
Southern Exposure, Perth, Australia, 2005. Photo: Ruth Anderson.
Lockwood spends months at a time floating down rivers with microphones, recording the sounds along the way and speaking to the people who rely on the waterways. She has composed pieces for conch shell, didgeridoo and Taonga Puoro, and set poems written by prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to music.
Born in Canterbury in 1939, the daughter of a keen tramper and a musician, Annea Lockwood is a pioneer in performance art, electroacoustic and experimental music, field recording and sound art.
Annea Lockwood - Piano Garden, Ingatestone, England 1970-71. Photo: Chris Ware
She left NZ in 1961 to pursue study in London, Germany and Holland, and has lived in New York since 1972. Kirsten Johnstone talks to Annea Lockwood on a rare visit to her homeland.
Find out more about Annea Lockwood and listen to her compositions.
