Piano: Release is a controlled action where I will position an upright piano at the top of a set of concrete steps and release it, causing it to fall or tumble and potentially break apart. Pianos are rich in symbolic meaning and this work is inspired by my desire to challenge my own traditional approach to this specific instrument and my experience of physical, psychological, and spiritual healing from violent trauma.

This action is to be my second major artistic experiment using the medium of performance art and this specific large object and I have proposed this action to take place in the amphitheater space adjacent to the CADVC at UMBC (Baltimore, MD) as a necessary part of my artistic practice and an expression of creative speech. The action will be recorded through sound and still photographs or video.

As I work to secure funding and permits for this work, I decided to experiment with the location and the a simple pine wood structure in the shape and size of an upright grand piano. The video above and the screen shots below are documentation of this “Rehearsal.”