photo: Estate Stephan von Huene, ZKM, Karlsruhe
Tap Dancer
Tap Dancer
1967
S 1967–1
wood, leathercovered foam rubber, computer (formerly punched tape), pneumatic system, percussion
120 x 90 x 75 cm
Collection Nancy Reddin Kienholz, Hope, Idaho
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Hamburger Kunsthalle 2003,
Jan-Peter Gehrckens (© NDR 2003)
0:28 min
“Tap Dancer consists of two shortened but not cut off legs that seem to move mechanically. […] The sound they make is produced by blocks of wood inside the box. The movements […] are made by pneumatic equipment similar to that once used for automatic pianos. […] Unlike music machines and automatic pianos, the sculpture plays all by itself.”
(S. v. H. in: exhib. cat. Stephan von Huene: Tune the World. Die Retrospektive, Ostfildern 2002, p. 186)
photo: Estate Stephan von Huene, ZKM, Karlsruhe
“Originally, sound and movement were programmed on a perforated strip, again not unlike a player piano. Tap Dancer was not intended to imitate human gestures, nor to be a dancing puppet à la E. T. A. Hoffmann. […] It was not meant to perform the kind of music that is normally performed with the hands, mouth, or feet. It was intended as a non-performance of music and movement.”
(S. v. H. in: exhib. cat. Für Augen und Ohren. Von der Spieluhr zum akustischen Environment, Berlin 1980, p. 142)
