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Souvenir
(1986) independent project,
Vancouver British Columbia
Also shown in Songs of Experience at the National Gallery in Canada
and at the Musée d'art Contemporain in Montréal

Currently in the collection of the Musée d'art Contemporain in Montréal

National Gallery of Canada
Musée d'art Contmeporain

The work was presented on the 31st floor of Park Place office tower. Although much of the building was occupied, this particular floor had never had a previous tenant. The piece consisted of several parts; a preliminary mailing; VideoPerfume; Murmurings and Oratorio.

A piano soundboard was installed surrounded by broken glass at the far corner of the space. Several audio speakers played back a soundtrack documenting the specific history of this piano.

The final phrase of a Chopin nocturne was followed by: the piano being slowly pried apart; the soundboard resonating underwater; a series of light arpeggios as rats ran across the strings; bell-like sounds as the piano was slowly heated by a propane bar followed by bright crackles and deep chords as the soundboard itself caught fire; and finally the explosion of a 357 magnum ripping through one of the strings. Each of the source recordings were edited into a musical structure and the final composition played back as a 15 minute recital.