«Exhibition unknown», 1963
Prepared Pianos | Photography | Photograph: Rolf Jährling

Four ‘prepared’ pianos stand in the hallway of the house. Whereas John Cage temporarily modified pianos for the duration of a performance, Paik wholly reconstructed the instruments so that the public could carry out its own interactive experiments. The following description is by Tomas Schmit, one of Paik’s assistants: 'the thing about the first piano is invisible but tangible: a board placed beneath the keyboard has jammed it, none of the keys can be depressed, much less produce chords; the second piano is lying on its back, its innards exposed; this one you play with your feet while walking over it (...). for all senses the two other pianos; our traditional item of cultural furniture, the piano, now a vehicle for a fairly total spectacle (...). awaiting the fingertips are all sorts of tactile things (on the keyboard): a cloth soaked in fat, spiky upturned drawing-pins, soft things, rough things, and so on. the capricious mechanics of the piano are used in three different ways: - i press a key, the key moves the hammer, and it strikes the string(s); some of the hammers are doctored by things placed on top of them, and on top of, beneath, or between many of the strings are all manner of objects (...). - i press a key, the key moves the hammer, and it moves whatever happens to be stuck to it or hanging from it; for instance: it makes an old shoe dangling over the lid rock bob up and down. - i press a key, and it squeezes something like a squeaking bellows mounted below it, or maybe an electric switch: there are three different types of circuits – pushbutton, flip-flop and dual circuits; examples: - when i press the cis'', a transistor radio starts up; it goes silent as soon as i release the cis'' key. - when I press the f, an electromotor screwed to the soundboard begins to agitate; it calms down when i press f again. - when i press the c, a hot-air fan begins to blow hot air on my legs; the button that makes it stop is hidden beneath the a'. in addition to the things listed above, several transistor radios, one or more film projectors, a siren (and other things?) are operated in these ways. one key switches off the entire room lighting for the room (and back on again if you manage to find it in the dark).' Dieter Daniels