Neue Nationalgalerie is delighted to present Allora & Calzadilla's work Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on „Ode to Joy“ for a Prepared Piano from October 1 - 30, 2022. The 30-minute performance takes place eight times a day, on the hour from 10 am to 6 pm.
Blending sculpture and performance, the artists have carved a hole in the center of an early twentieth century Bechstein piano, creating a void in which the performer stands to play the Fourth Movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, usually referred to as Ode to Joy. During the performance a pianist will lean over the piano’s keyboard, playing upside down and mirrored, while moving the instrument around the Mies van der Rohe‘s Hall.