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The Vessel Orchestra is a sound-based art installation created by British artist
Oliver Beer . It is the first sound-oriented installation ever commissioned by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art . The installation is composed of 32 objects from the museum's collection. Each object has a microphone placed in its hollow space in order to capture the natural sounds that each piece
resonates . Beer chose each object for its unique
pitch . For instance, a clay vase by
Joan Miró resonates the musical note low F. The internal microphones, which do not touch the objects, are connected to a mixer, which is hooked up to a keyboard, therefore allowing a musician to "play" the objects, creating music. The installation was opened to the general public on July 2, 2019,
[1] and was on display at the
Met Breuer until August 11, 2019.
[2] During the exhibit the installation played repeatedly a 20-minute loop of a composition by Beer. In addition, the instrument was played on Friday evenings during live music performances by guest musicians.
[3] The installation includes two and a half
octaves in a
chromatic scale , from low C to high G.
[1] It took Beer four years to create the installation. Some of the objects in the installation had never been on display in the museum before.
[4] The project was co-curated by Lauren Rosati and Limor Tomer.
[5]
List of works
Beer used the following objects in The Met's collection for Vessel Orchestra ; works are listed as they appeared in the installation clockwise from the entrance.
[6]
Note (
SPN )
Work
Date
Artist / Location
Media
Accession number
B3
Shiva vase
1973
Ettore Sottsass
Ceramic
2017.204
C4
Vase
1986
Alessandro Mendini ,
Sinya Okayama
Stainless steel
1988.241
F4
Trifoglio
1969
Enzo Mari
Ceramic
1988.184.4
G♭4
Blue Mountain Horses
1984
Rudy Autio
Stoneware with colored glazes
1998.534
A♭3
Scofield Thayer
1923, cast 1924
Gaston Lachaise
Bronze , glass
1984.433.30
A3
Squared Up
1985
William Daley
Stoneware
2000.527.1
D♭3
Rhyton in the shape of a bird
ca. early 1st millennium B.C.
Northwestern
Iran
Ceramic
59.95
A♭2
Mrs. Olin Levi Warner
1886–87, cast 1897–98
Olin Levi Warner
Bronze
98.9.6
C3
Ewer
19th century
Franchi and Son
Electroformed copper, silver plated and gilt
73.8.52
D2 , E♭2 , D3
The Ming Sisters
2003
Betty Woodman
Glazed
earthenware , epoxy resin,
lacquer , paint
2003.413a–c
G♭2
Canaanite jar
ca. 1500–1400 B.C.
Levant
Ceramic
2001.761.9
E2
Storage jar decorated with mountain goats
ca. 3800–3700 B.C.
Central Iran
Ceramic, paint
59.52
D♭2
Pot
1975
Juan Hamilton
Stoneware
1978.496.2
G2
Vessel in form of female(?) figure
ca. 7th–6th century B.C.
Iran,
Luristan , Chekka Sabz
Ceramic
43.89.3
C2
Vase
1901
Louis Majorelle
Porcelain
2013.245.5
B♭3
Guild vessel
19th century
Germany
Pewter
1974.28.107
A2
Axe Vessel
1986
Gordon Baldwin
Earthenware
1998.289
B♭2
Fish
ca. 1947
Beatrice Wood
Earthenware, lustered
47.126.2
F2
Vase
1942
Joan Miró ,
Josep Llorens Artigas
Painted earthenware
1989.402
B2
The Virgin
1906, cast 1909
Andre O'Connor
Bronze
18.38
E♭3
Vase with archaistic patterns
Qing dynasty (1644–1911),
Qianlong period (1736–95)
China
Porcelain with green glaze and gilding (
Jingdezhen ware )
14.40.400
F3
Temple 7
1977
William Wyman
Earthenware
1980.479
G♭3
Spouted jar
ca. 9th–7th century B.C.
Iran,
Tepe Sialk
Ceramic, paint
39.60.9
E3
Ewer
19th century
Franchi and Son
Electroformed copper, silver plated
73.8.8
D♭4
Cooking pot
ca. late 8th–7th century B.C.
Levant,
Lachish (modern Tell ed-Duweil, Israel)
Cermanic
34.126.43
D4
Jar with geometric designs
ca. 5300–4300 B.C.
Central Iran
Ceramic, paint
60.61.3
G4
Vase with performance of dragon boat
Qing dynasty (1644–1911),
Kangxi period (1662–1722)
China
Porcelain painted with overglaze polychrome enamels (Jingdezhen ware)
14.40.83
E♭4
Vessel #1063
1990
June Schwarcz
Electroplated copper foil, enamel
1995.439
G3
Vase
ca. 1900–1910
Archibald Knox
Pewter
1981.91
E4
Measure
1854–93
Carl Adolph Ferdinand Heidorn
Pewter
1990.199.11
References
Further reading
External links
Places
Directors Miscellaneous Antiquities Paintings
1476 Altarpiece
A Cavalryman
A Vase of Flowers (1716)
The Abduction of Rebecca
The Accommodations of Desire
The Actor (painting)
Adoration of the Magi (Bosch, New York)
Adoration of the Shepherds (Mantegna)
The Aegean Sea
The Afternoon Meal (Luis Meléndez)
Alexander Hamilton (Trumbull)
The Allegory of Faith
Allegory of the Planets and Continents
Alpine Pool
Altman Madonna
America Today
Ancient Rome (painting)
Annunciation (Memling)
Annunziata Polyptych
Anthony van Dyck self portrait
Approaching Thunder Storm
Arab Woman (watercolor)
Arcadia (painting)
Ariadne (Giorgio de Chirico)
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer
Artillery (Roger de la Fresnaye)
The Artist's Wife and His Setter Dog
At the Seaside
Au Lapin Agile
Autumn Ivy (Ogata Kenzan)
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)
Bache Madonna
Bain à la Grenouillère
The Baker's Cart
The Banks of the Bièvre near Bicêtre
Banquet in Silence (Marsden Hartley)
Bashi-Bazouk (Jean-Léon Gérôme)
A Basket of Clams (Winslow Homer)
Beauty Revealed
Black Iris (painting)
Black Stork in a Landscape
Boating (Édouard Manet)
Annunciation (Botticelli, New York)
Bouquet of Small Chrysanthemums (Léon Bonvin)
Boy Carrying a Sword
The Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne
Brigand and His Wife in Prayer
Bringing Down Marble from the Quarries to Carrara
The Brioche
Broadway and 42nd Street
Broken Eggs
Burg Weiler Altarpiece
Butler Madonna
By the Seashore
Ca' Dolfin Tiepolos
The Calm Sea (painting)
Camouflage Self-Portrait
Cannon Rock (painting)
The Card Players
Catania and Mount Etna
Cemetery, New Mexico (Marsden Hartley)
Cervara Altarpiece
The Chess Players (Eakins painting)
Children Playing with a Goat
Christ Carrying the Cross (El Greco, New York)
Christ Presented to the People (Il Sodoma)
Christ with a Staff
Claes Duyst van Voorhout
Cloudy Mountains
Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine
Coast Scene, Isles of Shoals
The Collector of Prints (Edgar Degas)
Comtesse de la Châtre
Captain George K. H. Coussmaker
Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue
A Cowherd at Valhermeil, Auvers-sur-Oise
Cows Crossing a Ford
Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)
Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych
Crucifixion with the Virgin and St John
The Cup of Tea
Cypresses (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The Dance Class (Degas, Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The Dancing Class
The Dead Christ with Angels
The Death of Harmonia
The Death of Socrates
The Defense of Champigny
Delirious Hem
The Denial of Saint Peter (Caravaggio)
Diana and Cupid
The Dream of Aeneas (Salvator Rosa)
Dressing for the Carnival
Madonna and Child (Duccio)
Egyptian Woman with Earrings
Egyptians Raising Water from the Nile
The Empress Elizabeth of Russia on Horseback, Attended by a Page
Entrance to a Dutch Port
Equestrian Portrait of Cornelis and Michiel Pompe van Meerdervoort with Their Tutor and Coachman
Esther before Ahasuerus (Artemisia Gentileschi)
Ethel Scull 36 Times
The Experts (painting)
The Falls of Niagara
The Farm at Les Collettes, Cagnes
Femme Lisant
Ferry near Gorinchem
The Fingernail Test
Fish Market (Joachim Beuckelaer)
The Fishing Boat
Fishing Boats, Key West
The Five Points (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Florinda (painting)
The Forest in Winter at Sunset (painting)
The Fortune Teller (de La Tour)
Fruit Dish and Glass
The Funeral (painting)
Fur Traders Descending the Missouri
Garden at Sainte-Adresse
George Washington (Trumbull)
Gilbert Stuart (Goodridge)
A Girl Asleep
Girl with a Cat (Gwen John)
Glass Blowers of Murano
Golden Cock and Hen
A Goldsmith in His Shop, Possibly Saint Eligius
The Great Sirens
The Gulf Stream (painting)
Harlequin with a Guitar
The Harvest, Pontoise
The Harvesters (painting)
Haystacks:Autumn
Head of Christ (Rembrandt, New York)
The Heart of the Andes
The Hermit (Il solitario)
The Horse Fair
Houses on the Achterzaan
I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold
In a Courtyard, Tangier
The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter (Lemoine)
Interior with a Young Couple and a Dog
Irises screen
Isaac Blessing Jacob (Gerbrand van den Eeckhout)
Isle of the Dead (painting)
Italian Hill Town (Arthur B. Davies)
Jo, the Beautiful Irishwoman
Joy of Life (Valadon)
Juan Legua
July Fourteenth, Rue Daunou, 1910
The Kearsarge at Boulogne
The Lacemaker (Maes)
Lachrymae (Frederic Leighton)
Lady at the Tea Table
Lady with the Rose (Charlotte Louise Burckhardt)
Lake George (John Frederick Kensett)
Landscape with Sky
The Last Communion of Saint Jerome (Botticelli)
Lehman Madonna
Lilacs in a Window
Lobster Fishermen (Marsden Hartley)
The Lovesick Maiden
Lukas Spielhausen
Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly (Mary Cassatt)
Madame Élisabeth de France
Madame Grand (Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun)
Madonna and Child (Bellini, New York, 1485–1490)
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints (Raphael)
Magdalene with Two Flames
The Maidservant
Maine Coast
Majas on a Balcony
Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga
The Marriage of the Virgin (Michelino da Besozzo)
The Martyrdom of Saint Barbara (Lucas Cranach the Elder)
The Masquerade Dress
The Matador Saluting
Max Schmitt in a Single Scull
Mérode Altarpiece
Merry company with two men and two women
Mezzetino (painting)
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (painting)
Miss V Dressed as a Bullfighter
Model by the Wicker Chair
Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley
Moonlight, Wood Island Light
Morning, An Overcast Day, Rouen
Moses Striking the Rock
Mother and Child (Cassatt)
Mountain Stream (John Singer Sargent)
Mountain with Red House
Movement No. 5, Provincetown Houses
Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes
Mrs. Atkinson (Gwen John)
Mrs. Beckington (Alice Beckington)
Mrs. Hugh Hammersley
The Musician (Bartholomeus van der Helst painting)
A Musician and His Daughter
The Musicians (Caravaggio)
Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (Memling)
Nativity scenes attributed to Zanobi Strozzi
Night-Shining White
Northeaster (painting)
Nude Before a Mirror
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Old Trees, Level Distance
Pity (William Blake)
Portrait of Madame Jacques-Louis Leblanc
Exhibitions