Most contemporary art is a bore or worse.
However, a visit to MassMOCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA) a year or so ago revealed a delight, Uberorgan by Tim Hawkinson. This installation filled the giant main hall at the museum, a room some 300 feet long and 75 feet wide with a ceiling height of 40 feet, a giant space.
The sounds produced by Uberorgan ranged from farts with truly foundation rattling lows to bassoon-like upper register squawks. Unfortunately, I didn't have a tape recorder and no recordings appear to be commercially available.
Although on first glance the player seemed to be a very direct use of a large Mylar strip with the musical score encoded as black stripes for each of the channels, things were in fact a bit more complicated. There were sensors arrayed to detect the presence and location of the audience. And each reed assembly has its own controller that contributes a further randomization to the timing of the sounds produced.
Here are a few photos:
A view from the balcony overlooking Uberorgan
Uberorgan recorder and player
The Recorder Unit
The Player with Mylar score
Air Bladder
Reed and Controller Assembly
December 1, 2001