David Byrne: Playing The Building

Press Release

The Roundhouse will be converted into a giant musical instrument by David Byrne when his interactive sound installation Playing the Building receives its British premiere at the celebrated Camden venue, 8 to 31 August 2009.

Mechanical devices will be attached to parts of the building’s structure - to the metal beams, pillars and pipes - which will make the different elements, vibrate, resonate and oscillate. Everything funnels down to an old pump organ keyboard which controls the installation, and the public will be invited to come and play it.

The shutters will be off the windows of the Roundhouse’s domed roof, revealing the Grade II* listed building in a new light - the perfect setting for visitors of all ages to explore the Victorian architecture and have the chance to ‘play the building’.

Playing the Building was presented to great acclaim and drew crowds to Creative Time’s production of the piece in New York’s Battery Maritime Building last year and at Färgfabriken in Stockholm in 2005.

Artist/musician David Byrne has created public art installations (many of them anonymous) in New York, Toronto, Tokyo, Sydney, Valencia, Stockholm, Belfast and San Francisco, and has been publishing and exhibiting his work in galleries and museums internationally for the past two decades. He’s well known as co-founder of Talking Heads (1976’88), which introduced an innovative visual approach to popular music. He’s also released solo music projects and worked in film, photography, dance and opera - winning Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe awards. He’s currently on tour performing ‘Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno’ - see www.davidbyrne.com for more information.