Vexations, one of the most famous but obscure compositions by the idiosyncratic French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925), is a brief, chromatic work for piano that lasts around two minutes, but is, by the composer’s apparent instruction, to be repeated 840 times, thus taking around 30 hours to perform. The work is not known to have been played or published during Satie’s lifetime; it was premiered in 1963, in a New York performance organized by John Cage. Since then, it has been performed numerous times around the world, and is well known today for the extraordinary experience it represents for performers as well as audiences.
Faculty, students, and friends of the Department of Art and the School of Music are delighted to present a full performance of this radical work, beginning at 11 a.m. on November 16, continuing through the night and following day, and ending around 5 p.m. on November 17. It is organized as a ‘crawl,’ in which up to 20 pianists will take turns playing the music, and in which the venue changes over time. It will begin as a complement to the Wexner Center’s Leap Before You Look exhibit, continue in the musical auditoriums of Hughes and Weigel Halls, and end in Hopkins Hall as a complement to the Department of Art’s Blueprints for a Past Future exhibit, during a reception there at 4:30-5:30 p.m.
30 HOURS! NOVEMBER 16 - 17:
Wexner Center, Gallery D: WEDS 11 am-6 pm
Weigel Hall, Lobby: WEDS 6 pm-7pm
Hughes Auditorium: WEDS 7 pm-11 pm
Weigel Auditorium: WEDS 11 pm-THURS 7 am
Weigel Hall, Lobby: THURS 7 am-9am
Hopkins Hall, Lobby: THURS 9 am-5 pm
Organized by the School of Music and the Department of Art, with support from the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Arts Initiative. Exhibition sponsorship also includes the Departments of History of Art, Classics, and Philosophy, and a Barbara and Sheldon Pinchuk Arts-Community Outreach Grant.
