Big Orchestra Cat. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfort

Musical instruments in the form of sculptures represent a still relatively unknown, recent development in contemporary art. The ­publication accompanying this international group ex­hibition presents artworks that function as musical instruments. The performance on the sculptural instruments forms the center of this constantly changing exhi­bition. During the course of the show, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt will temporarily turn into a concert hall, where the works are activated and brought to tonal life. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to experience the sound of the artworks in a live setting. Ever-newly ­formed ensembles examine the sound of the instruments, which are subsequently presented in concerts, or the ­artists activate their own works in performances. The starting point for the concept is an extended notion of art and music, as seen during the Fluxus movement of the 1960's: happenings and ­actions were understood as "concerts," since they ­appeared structured like compositions, and combined different media and materials.

Irene Noy is the author of Emergency Noises: Sound Art and Gender. Noy holds a PhD from The Courtauld Institute of Art, where she also completed the Sackler Research Forum Postdoctoral Fellowship. Marion Saxer is a professor at the Musikhochschule Lübeck for Musicology. Matthias Ulrich is an art historian and curator at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt. He edited the catalogs for Tobias Rehberger and the show Secret Societies, as well as All-Inclusive. A Tourist World.