Experimental performance starting from a sociological view and reflection for the piano

This is an experimental performance starting from a sociological view and reflection for the piano. By dismantling and reconstituting the instrument, it suggests new possibilities of the contemporary performing arts and asks questions about the present and future of humanity.

<PNO> is a contemporary music production and an experimental performance starting from a sociological view and reflection for the piano. It delves into a complex network around the instrument which has always been with us in human history since its invention. It dismantles the instrument both physically and conceptually and makes a new one called “PNO” out of it.

<PNO> is a sonata about steel and wood, interconnection and dismantlement. The piano was born at the point where the materiality of steel and wood met with humans. Since then, the piano has been connected to major innovations and events in the history of human society and culture, along with its ceaseless development and distribution, revival and stagnation. Even 300 years later, the piano still occupies an invincible position deep inside human life, as an instrument for soloists, accompaniers and composers.
Today, different experiments including prepared performances have blurred the boundaries of what makes a piano. Nevertheless, the piano’s position is still strong. This is where <PNO> comes in. Musician and composer Kim Jaehoon asks these quesstions. What would be the next form of this instrument which looks so perfect? What would be the next look of humans playing this instrument? Could a piano perform alone? Between innovation and recovery, could the steel, wood and humans meet again from the start?
The performance dismantles the piano’s interconnected actions triggered by the pressing of a piano key. In this way, it suggests that we look at the different parts inside the piano. By making an impossible attempt called “the first encounter,” it gazes at the initialized piano. At the same time, it delves into the very nature of the instrument from the beginning. Through such dismantlement and reconstitution, the performance opens an ironic chapter of time called the “oldest future” and writes a new sonata.