smashed piano « SuperForest

Photo: Dean Sewell

As a lover of all instruments, I was pretty chuffed to learn about 20 pianos being placed all over Sydney, as part of the Sydney Festival. Each piano is decorated with coloured stencils that read: Play me, I’m yours, inviting passers-by to sit down and have an impromptu jam session.

Luke Jerram, the British artistic consultant behind Play Me, I’m Yours, sees the project as a way to bring people together.

“I’ve got a bit of a problem with art galleries because they only reach a certain segment of the community,” he said. “This provides an opportunity for people to be creative and to connect with a stranger.”

The outdoor pianos are chained to trees and signposts, and are covered with tarpaulins, but Jerram isn’t concerned about vandals or the weather. He bought the pianos cheaply on eBay and will donate them to the communities that play them during the festival.

Hello All,

Jackson here.

I was walking to work this afternoon and I noticed a big chunk of piano across the street in a pile of trash. I walked over and found it was a whole piano, lovingly smashed to pieces.

It was so beautiful, I couldn’t help but stop and take a bunch of pictures.
While I was snapping away, a friendly woman who lived nearby came out and told me that the piano had been carried out in one piece by five men. When they had gotten it out of a nearby building and onto the sidewalk, they stood in a circle, each holding a sledgehammer, and smashed the piano into the chunks you see here.

Oh, to have been there to listen to that! Or better yet, to have been there just before they got to smashing and been able to say: What’s shaking, amigos? Nice piano. You aren’t preparing to smash it with those hammers are you? You are. Instead of that, may I, uh, have it? Great! Thanks ever so much.

But then we wouldn’t have these photos now would we?