Jarosław Kapuściński

Where is Chopin

Performance / installation for Disklavier piano, three-channel visual projection, and stereo audio

2010 · 32m

[1 min trailer]

Where Is Chopin is a performance/installation that aims to uncover the traces of music in the faces of listeners from around the world. The project involved over 150 participants from 12 cities, including Beijing, Buenos Aires, Helsinki, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Mexico City, San Francisco, Santiago, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, and Wellington. Private sessions were conducted with individual volunteers, during which Kapuściński played Chopin's Preludes Op. 28, and the sessions were recorded by local photographers. The captured videos and Chopin's music were then edited, distilled, and re-composed to bring into focus the essence of those experiences.

During the live concert, the video projections are controlled by the pianist using MIDI and a Max patch. In the installation version, the music is performed by a player piano (Yamaha Disklavier), while a three-screen high-resolution projection showcases the fluid and rich world of people experiencing music.

Read more on the project's website.

Commission / Grants

  • WRO Art Center, Wrocław, Poland
  • Warsaw Autumn, International Festival of Contemporary Music, Poland
  • Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
  • Polish Cultural Institute, London, UK
  • Stanford University, CA

Premiere

  • 2010

    • Dilston Gallery, London, UK
    • CCRMA, Stanford University, CA
    • Warsaw Autumn, International Festival of Contemporary Music, Poland

Presentations

  • 2010

    • Field of Vision, Festival of Animation and New Media, Torun, Poland

  • 2011

    • Seeing Sound Symposium, Bath Spa University, UK
    • School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Polytechnic University, Singapore
    • Media Art Biennale, WRO Art Center, Wrocław, Poland
    • Animator: International Festival of Animation, Poznan, Poland
    • Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
    • NoiseBorder, University of Windsor, Canada (excerpts)

  • 2012

    • International Symposium on Visual Music, Centre for Asian Art and Design; School of Art, Design and Media; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
    • Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, City University of Hong Kong
    • Stanford Center, Peking University, China

  • 2013

    • Tokyo Experimental Festival, TWS Shibuya, Japan
    • Faculty of Music, Oxford University, UK
    • University of California, Irvine
    • Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, USA
    • University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
    • University of North Texas, USA
    • Codes Festival, Lublin, Poland

  • 2015

    • Tokyo University for Arts and Music, Japan
    • Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Tokyo, Japan
    • Department of Music, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    • 12 Nights of Electronic Music, Bakehouse Arts Complex, Miami, FL
    • Berkeley Art Festival, CA

  • 2016

    • Le Poisson Rouge, New York (Jenny Q Chai – piano)

  • 2019

    • Rockefeller University, NY (Jenny Q Chai – piano)

  • 2021

    • Installation at the Museum of the Frederic Chopin Institute in Warsaw, Poland (Oct 2021 - Aug 2022)