The Belgian artist and instrument builder gives a multi-angle view of his latest work featuring a piano and antenna
“A lot of my work is about translating one medium to another one, connecting things that are not really compatible,” says Belgian artist Floris Vanhoof, speaking to Claire Biddles. “If you tell somebody that there’s an antenna that makes your radio play, they would say, sure. But if you say, now I’m gonna use that antenna to play a piano, they’d be like, nah, it’s not gonna work. And that’s what makes me so curious.”
Instrument builder Vanhoof's new installation Antenna picks up “ever-present electromagnetic waves that fly through the air” – such as imploding stars, far away lightning, weather balloons, planes, car keys and phones – and translates them into small electromagnets that make the piano strings sing.
The instrument is on display in Leuven as part of Belgium's sound art festival Hear Here until 6 June. Read Claire Biddles' full interview with Floris Vanhoof in The Wire 460. Wire subscribers can access the article via the digital archive.
