Best Public Art Event: “Playing the Building”
Best of Manhattan 2008, New York Press

Creative Time and David Byrne teamed up this summer to re-think what it means to energize a deserted structure for a whole new audience by rigging an entire building for sound. Located downtown in the Battery Maritime Building—which was built in 1909, closed in 1938 and hadn’t been open to the public for 50 years—the space became an instrument that welcomed anyone to perform. Wires triggered motors that vibrated against glass. Hoses pumped air into the plumbing; turning the pipes into primitive flutes. Columns pinged in various pitches and timbres. The whole was some sort of quasi-spiritual experience. The reverberations won’t leave us anytime soon.