We invite you to the sixth edition of sound events in the ÚÚÚ series, curated by the Združenie ooo within Trenčín 2026.
úúú: Piano
Annea Lockwood: Piano Garden (NZ/US)
VERNISSAGE: September 27, 2026 | 15:00
DURATION: From September 28, 2026
WHERE: ŽiTo v SÝPKE, Moravské Lieskové
ENTRY: free, registration required
REGISTRATION: tootoot.fm/en/events/6a55522c4e5f28ebcf2b71fd
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Annea Lockwood (NZ/US) | Piano Garden
sound installation
1972 I no language barrier
Dig a sloping trench and slide a piano into it so that it is half buried in the ground. Plant fast-growing trees and climbing plants beneath and around the piano. Do not protect it from the weather. Leave it there forever.
– from the score Piano Garden
Composer and sound artist Annea Lockwood presents, in her Piano Transplants series, some of the most radical interventions into the iconic instrument of Western music—the piano. Throughout the series, she sets irreparably damaged pianos on fire (Piano Burning), submerges them in water (Piano Drowning), exposes them to ocean surf (Southern Exposure), and, in Piano Garden, allows them to be gradually overgrown by vegetation. By placing the piano in contrast with entropy, she explores the roles of sound and instrument within the environment and their diverse life cycles over time. The intention of the work is for the piano to remain in the garden for as long as possible, until it completely decomposes and merges with the surrounding landscape. Yet, in the imperfect reality of the world, many different endings can be imagined. The installation may be brought to a premature end by prohibition, social upheaval, nationalisation of the land, the need for a different use of the site, a total loss of interest in culture, war, or something else.
The Piano Transplants series began in the 1960s as a tribute to Christiaan Barnard’s pioneering heart transplants and continues to be realised around the world today. There are currently four Piano Gardens, three of them permanent: in Wiesbaden, at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in New York, in Wales, and in Melbourne, Australia. In September 2026, ŽiTO v SÝPKE in Moravské Lieskové will become the fifth Piano Garden in the world.
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Annea Lockwood (b. 1939) is an American composer of New Zealand origin whose work focuses on the physical and environmental experience of sound. For decades, she has explored how sound affects both our bodies and the environments we inhabit. Her practice ranges from concert music and performance to sound and multimedia installations, often incorporating field recordings and natural processes.
Lockwood studied composition in London and elsewhere in Europe, where she was strongly influenced by American experimental composers such as Pauline Oliveros and John Cage. Since 1973 she has lived in the United States, where she taught at Vassar College. Her music has been presented at major international festivals, and in recent years she has received numerous honours, including several lifetime achievement awards. She is also widely recognised for her extensive projects centred on the sounds of rivers and landscapes, such as A Sound Map of the Hudson River and A Sound Map of the Danube, in which she combines field recordings with stories from people living within those environments.
