As the waves started to drown the piano, there was nary a peep. It just stood there, its keys steadfast against the battering of the water. The hammers rose and fell silently, while the legs held firm.

Yet, in front of us, more vivid than ever, sat a 19-year-old piano virtuoso, his fingers dancing across the keys, his soul weeping through each note. It cast a spell on us, convincing us that the drowned piano had life in it still.

In December 2023, the Johannesburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF) launched the inaugural edition of their journal: ‘Interdisciplinary Knowledge from the South’ - a treatise culminating three years of intensive research on ‘Female Identities in the Global South’. I’ve been closely following the evolution of this ambitious project and was fortunate enough to attend three of their exhibitions along the way - all of which were incredibly engaging, thought-provoking, and beautifully curated.

But this isn’t a post about the journal itself - but a reflection on the performance that accompanied its launch.

When the tickets for the launch event were released, I immediately raced to grab a ticket because of the promise of a breathtaking piece of performance art from pianist Qden Blaauw and artist Robin Rhode. Their collaboration, titled ‘Pictures Reframed’, consisted of a stirring, expansive piano recital based on Mussorgksy’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ underneath the screening of Rhode’s iconic stop-motion imagery projected on a large screen above.

Unfortunately, the tickets were already sold out, leaving me with no choice but to wait for the public screenings in order to see the performance, and that’s what I got to see today.

Rediscovering the Magic of Public Screenings

Upon arrival at JCAF, we were led into a dark and disorientating movie theatre set in their exhibition space. We then sat down to watch a screening of the live performance that happened right there just a few months prior.

As I sat there, transfixed by what we were watching, I pondered why it was having such a profound impact on me. In an era where the default mode of consumption is cozying up on a couch and scrolling mindlessly through Netflix, the act of collectively attending a theatre seems like a fading tradition. We reserve our outings for those big-budget blockbusters that demand the grandeur of an IMAX screen. Everything else we just seem to watch at home, in sweatpants, with our smartphone in our hand the whole time.

We could certainly have watched a performance like this on YouTube and still been blown away by it, but being there in person gives it an extra edge. It creates additional immersion and the people around you lends status to what you’re watching. In addition, it’s non-trivial to say that social pressure stops you from being distracted by your phone - something that happens a lot when you’re watching a film at home.

I think that we’re losing more than we realize when we switch entirely to streaming, rather than the physical in-person experience that used to be the norm. With the looming advent of technology like the Apple Vision Pro promising even more solitary viewing experiences, one can’t help but wonder if we’re forfeiting something truly extraordinary by forsaking public screenings altogether.

Moral of the story: go and watch your movies in a theatre if you can stomach the exorbitant cost.

Now back to the heart of the matter.

Combining Art Forms

The original ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ by Modest Mussorgsky was conceived as a sonic journey through the artworks of his late friend Viktor Harmann’s in St Petersburg back in 1874. Each movement was composed for a specific piece of art, interweaving common motifs and themes throughout, while fluidly navigating the nuances of each piece, thus enriching the visual experience with a unique perspective.

This idea inspired South African visual artist Robin Rhode to create a version of his own, marrying that same music with his own imagery - in essence reversing the chronology entirely. This time the images were drawn to the music, rather than the music being composed to the imagery.

‘Pictures Reframed’ was the result and this contemporary homage has been performed many times across the world since 2007. The experience of watching it is much more approachable than much of the contemporary art that I’ve seen. As someone who is not steeped in art history, I often find it difficult to engage with a piece of art without context or someone interpreting it for me. However, in this case - you had the piano providing additional substance and storytelling that made the pieces come alive. It felt fuller and richer, and closer to the sort of scoring that we’re familiar with within the context of films or TV shows.

I don’t know if it’s the sensory accumulation or just increased immersion in general, but there is something special about combining two different art forms and letting them feed each other. I’m reminded of a video from John Fish where he took a 36-hour train ride and read books about trains the whole way. He speaks about there being something magical about combining the actual experience of riding a train with reading about it. By melding the two together, he found the stories more grounded and altogether meaningful.

I think that’s what is happening here. When we can combine music with visual art, we find new ways to interrogate what we’re seeing. The music can act as a director, showing us what we should be focusing on and guiding us along an emotional journey.

Authors do this already when they’re writing their novels. You’ll often hear anecdotes from writers who pick specific musical themes, genres, or playlists to write to as they hope that the emotion will bleed into their words. This is something that I found very helpful when I was writing my first (unfinished) novel. The music acts as a medium for more creativity, a conduit to the divine, a source of inspiration when the words seem bland and tasteless.

It’s for this reason that I can’t help but wonder whether more contemporary art would benefit from sensory augmentation. The purists might say no - because the art should theoretically speak for itself - but if you want to make art more accessible and approachable, then perhaps it’s a way forward. Of course, this needs to be done carefully because you don’t want the music to change the interpretation of the art necessarily - but then again, maybe you do?

There is so much space for innovation here and being able to take a static piece of art and transform it into something experiential is exciting to me - especially when you consider all the millions of millennials who have sworn off material possessions and are in a desperate hunt for the Pokédex of life experiences.

The Drowning Piano

Back to the actual piece again, ‘Reframing Pictures’ culminates with a striking visual of a beautiful grand piano being slowly consumed and submerged by waves. For an object so treasured across human history, it immediately strikes us as wrong to see it being drowned - despite it echoing the themes of decay and destruction that are present throughout.

But again, the images on their own can only do so much. When you include a live piano performance underneath, it changes the implications entirely.

We can contrast the beautiful sounds of the piano with its imminent destruction. This raises the stakes and adds an ominous countdown to the end of the performance. It’s beautifully done and is undoubtedly the most memorable part. I can imagine some people interpreting it as the world swallowing the arts, but for me, it doesn’t come across as sad as that. I found solace in the fact that the piano seemed resigned to its fate and there is some beauty in how it remained steadfast and quiet despite the chaos surrounding it.

There is something stoic there and it’s an image that I will hold onto as the waves of life threaten to submerge me.

Thank you to JCAF for another fantastic art experience. Their exhibitions always leave me with so much food for thought and I’ve learned so much from their passionate, knowledgeable, and patient guides and curators.

If you ever get a chance to see Qden Blaauw play live - don’t hesitate. He’s fantastic.

To get a sense of the performance, check out this alternate version on Apple Music.