Electric Josh

The Kendall Band is probably my favorite public art installation ever. I actually used to play with it several times a week, back when I worked in Kendall Square and rode the T. The article understates quite how completely the exceptionally loud trains almost violently overwhelm the calm, super-echoey gonging. Also, the article fails to mention how amazingly incompetent some folks are at getting the piece to make any noise at all: hammers hang between the gongs, and in order to get the hammers to make any contact a light touch is required on the handle. It must be rocked gently back and forth, like pushing a swing, so that the hammers eventually swing wide enough to strike the "bells". I often used to wonder if folks found it embarrassing to fail to make noise in front of so many smart people, what with MIT and all those fancy biotech and computer startups around. At any rate, I had no idea it was installed by Henri Matisse's grandson. Neat.
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