Piano Track, 1990
A regular object in Jordi Benito’s iconography, this time the piano becomes an object of public art. Produced in 1990, in 1994 it was installed among the pine trees outside the vice-chancellor’s office on the campus of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Benito placed a grand piano made of iron under the trees with two large stones in the shape of a set square on top of it, and some horizontal geometrical incisions. The lightness of the sound and the intangibility of the music are in sharp contrast with the weight and material solidity of the stone.
Whether it is Body art or Performance art, or sculptures and installations, Benito often incorporates the piano in his works in multiple formats. In fact, it is the central icon of his creative world. Pianos may be hanged from the ceiling, covered in tree branches, be part of actions made in collaboration with Carles Santos, or applied to mathematical formulae. Although in his stunning Body art actions from the seventies and eighties he had already incorporated music, especially Wagner’s operas, in his later installations the piano came to represent his enduring interest in music.
Technical details
- Original title:
- Piano Track
- Registration number:
- 2066
- Artist:
- Benito, Jordi
- Date created:
- 1990
- Date acquired:
- 1997
- Status:
- On loan
- Fonds:
- MACBA Collection. Government of Catalonia long-term loan
- Object type:
- Installation
- Media:
- Piano, pit and stones
- Dimensions:
- 149 x 205 x 302 cm (height x width x depth)
- Credits:
- MACBA Collection. Government of Catalonia long-term loan. National Collection of Art
- Copyright:
- © Jordi Benito
- It has accessibility resources:
- No
The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.
For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.
If you need a high resolution image of the work, you must submit an image loan request.
