Taken by Manfred Montwé, this photograph shows Nam June Paik’s first solo show, Exposition of Music — Electronic Television held at Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal, in March 1963. At the central hall of the gallery, four pianos—the symbol of classical music—were displayed under the title of Klavier Intégral, prepared to be ‘played’ in a completely different way. One of the pianos was laid down to make viewers play it with their feet by stepping on the keys, and part of the piano was planed and ham¬mered. Another prepared piano was called “Piano for Arthur Køpcke,” modeled on Shut Books in which Køpcke glued a book’s pages so that it could not be read. Paik slotted a wooden panel inside the piano and closed the lid so that the keys could not be pressed and strings did not vibrate. The front cases of the other two pianos were removed, and their keys and strings were covered with everyday objects such as a doll’s head, a whistle, a horn, a plume, a spoon, a pile of coins, toy sundries, wires, photographs, a padlock, a brassiere, an accordion, an aphrodisiac, a disjointed arm, the lever of a record player, and among others.
