The following is written by the artist: Luke Jerram
"Why is it that when I go to the laundrette I see the same people each week and yet nobody talks to one another? Why don’t I know the names of the people who live opposite my house? Play Me, I’m Yours was designed to act as a catalyst for strangers who regularly occupy the same space, to talk and connect with one another. Listening to the radio programme made by NPR about this project it seems to have worked.
Disrupting people’s negotiation of their city, the pianos are also aimed to provoke people into engaging, activating and claiming ownership of their urban landscape.
The pianos have also levered many hidden musicians from out of the woodwork. It has become apparent that there are hundreds of pianists out there who don’t have access to a piano to play. ‘Play Me I’m Yours’ provides access to musical instruments and provides musicians an opportunity to share their creativity by performing in public.
Like Facebook, the street pianos, together with this website, provide a interconnected resource, an empty blank canvas, for the public to express themselves and share their creativity.
When the project was installed in Birmingham 2008, the city council financially supported the project, yet we were banned (for the usual health and safety reasons) from placing any piano on council owned ’public’ land. To enable the artwork to happen in London 2009, organisers have had to apply for individual music licences, for each piano location. The absurdity of licensing the pianos for ‘Play Me, I’m Yours was raised and discussed in the House of Lords on 16th June 2009.
Over 3 weeks it was estimated that over 140,000 people across Birmingham played with or listened to music from the pianos. (A breakdown can be found at www.lukejerram.com ). Statistics like these add weight to the argument that regional art galleries are in many ways failing to attract large and diverse audiences and to really engage with specific communities they have an obligation to reach."
