Kendall Band
Encyclopedia
The Kendall Band is a three-part musical sculpture created between 1986 and 1988 by Paul Matisse
, who is the grandson of French artist Henri Matisse
and stepson of surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp
. It is installed between the inbound and outbound tracks of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
's Kendall Station located in Cambridge
, Massachusetts
near the MIT campus. The art work is seen by an estimated 12,518 riders on an average weekday, and originally cost $90,000 to construct.
The three parts of the interactive work are called “Pythagoras
," “Kepler
," and “Galileo
," and are all controlled by levers located on the subway platforms.
, Massachusetts
, in Kendall Station. The work consists of three interactive instruments that are played using handles located on both the inbound and outbound subway platform walls. Each instrument was designed so that it could be played from either platform of the subway station. Aluminum, steel
, and teak
were all used in the construction of the musical instruments, with the teak being used for the heads of the hammers. The ensemble was created by Paul Matisse
, who is the grandson of Henri Matisse
and stepson of Marcel Duchamp
. Matisse won the commission in 1981 to create a sculpture for Kendall Station, as part of an effort to beautify the Red Line
and its stations. This effort was known as the "Arts on the Line
" program, and was "the first program in the nation to put works of art in public transportation systems." The work was not installed until 1987 due to station reconstruction.
Due to fears of the art work being vandalized, Matisse decided to place the sculpture between the inbound and outbound tracks of the station before even deciding on what to create. He said "It had a third rail
on one side, a third rail on the other side, and I thought it would be safe." Matisse is known for other interactive sound sculptures, such as his Musical Fence (1980), which was originally installed in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, and now is located at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts
.
, mathematician
, and scientist
Pythagoras of Samos, who is best known for the Pythagorean theorem
. The sculpture consists of 16 4 inches (101.6 mm), 1/4 in aluminum tubular bell
s, all tuned in the key of B minor
. The longer bells create low pitches, while the shorter bells create higher pitches in the scale. When a handle on the wall of the subway platform is pulled, teak-headed hammers swing back and forth between the bells, striking them and creating the musical notes. Due to asymmetrical slits located at the nodal points in the bells, each chime's note plays a slight vibrato
.
There are actually two identical, completely separate and independent musical instruments comprising Pythagoras. One can be operated from a handle located on the inbound subway platform, and the other can be played simultaneously from a handle on the outbound side. The hammers are not directly coupled to the handles, to prevent them from striking the chimes too violently. Instead, the handles must be rhythmically moved back and forth at an appropriate frequency, depending on the physical phenomenon of mechanical resonance
to build up enough energy to strike the chimes. Which chimes are sounded when depends in a complex manner on the recent history of handle movement. Although the detailed mathematical analysis of motions is quite complex, most visitors quickly and intuitively figure out how to operate the sculpture without any written instructions.
, a 17th century German mathematician
, astronomer
and astrologer
. This instrument features a 125-pound, 55-inch, metal ring that plays an F♯ when struck. This note creates a harmonic perfect fifth
with the tones sounded by Pythagoras. The ring plays this note when a handle on either subway platform is manipulated, which in turn ratchets a hammer upward until it falls and strikes the ring. After the ring is struck, it will continue to hum for five minutes.
, mathematician
, astronomer
, and philosopher Galileo Galilei
. The flat panel of steel works like a thunder sheet
. When a handle on either station platform is moved, the sheet shakes and creates a low rumbling sound, similar to the sound of thunder
, or the sound trains make when rolling through the station.
Matisse would post temporary signs in place of the instrument handles on the walls of Kendall Station, whenever repair work was taking place on the Kendall Band. Responses which were scrawled in the margins by passengers ranged from "If you spent my tax $ on this, then may you DIE SLOWLY!!" to “If you spent tax dollars on this, may you live long + happily." Other comments included “Great to do while stoned!", “Thank you for making me forget the horrors of this day", and “Try to get a tapered connection from the first vertical to the second on this side and an oversized second vertical linkage with perhaps an internal shock absorber".
Over time, repairs and additions to the sculpture were completed that made the work more resilient. One of the more-important modifications added a set of clutches hidden behind the handles of the instruments, which disengage "when someone yanks too hard or too fast."
No repair or upgrade work can be embarked upon until 1:30am each night, which is when the MBTA stops running trains. Matisse himself had to personally repair the sculpture whenever it broke, and he was not able to find any organization or corporation that was willing to take over the upkeep of the Band. Because of this, Matisse eventually abandoned the work after roughly 20 years of maintenance. He later stated, “I just kept it going, and then at one point I decided that I was just going to have to let it go out on its own... Sort of like one’s kids. The time comes."
The only engineering drawings for the Kendall Band were also lost in a hard-drive crash during this period.
were brought together to repair and conserve the Kendall Band. The idea for the group came from Seth G. Parker, a principal at a Massachusetts based energy consulting firm. He got in touch with the head of the Concerts Office in Music and Theater Arts at MIT, Clarise E. Snyder. She in turn contacted Paul Matisse and the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering, who recommended that instructor Michael J. Tarkanian be supervisor of the project to repair the sculpture.
About 20 students were gathered to work on the cataloging and repair of the instruments, with seven of them chosen to actually dismantle the work. The students dubbed themselves "The Kendall Band Preservation Society."
In April 2010, the Kendall Band Preservation Society started dismantling the Kendall Band, and the general manager of the MBTA, Richard A. Davey Jr., stopped in to speak to the students and wish them luck in repairing the artwork. The students taped up signs in the same fashion as Paul Matisse did when he repaired the Band, and comments were again scrawled in the margins.
According to Michael J. Tarkanian, “I think we will be able to get the instruments functional over the span of a few months, but our longer term goal is to complete [sic] refurbish and document each instrument. That will be a much longer project, on the order of years.”
As of May 2011, Pythagoras has been completely restored to operation, and work continues on the other two instruments.
Paul Matisse
Paul Matisse is an artist and inventor. He is known especially for his public art installations, many of which are interactive. He is also inventor of the Kalliroscope....
, who is the grandson of French artist Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
and stepson of surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
. It is installed between the inbound and outbound tracks of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...
's Kendall Station located in Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
near the MIT campus. The art work is seen by an estimated 12,518 riders on an average weekday, and originally cost $90,000 to construct.
The three parts of the interactive work are called “Pythagoras
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. Most of the information about Pythagoras was written down centuries after he lived, so very little reliable information is known about him...
," “Kepler
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
," and “Galileo
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
," and are all controlled by levers located on the subway platforms.
Sculpture
The Kendall Band is an interactive sound sculpture located in CambridgeCambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, in Kendall Station. The work consists of three interactive instruments that are played using handles located on both the inbound and outbound subway platform walls. Each instrument was designed so that it could be played from either platform of the subway station. Aluminum, steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
, and teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
were all used in the construction of the musical instruments, with the teak being used for the heads of the hammers. The ensemble was created by Paul Matisse
Paul Matisse
Paul Matisse is an artist and inventor. He is known especially for his public art installations, many of which are interactive. He is also inventor of the Kalliroscope....
, who is the grandson of Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
and stepson of Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
. Matisse won the commission in 1981 to create a sculpture for Kendall Station, as part of an effort to beautify the Red Line
Red Line (MBTA)
The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the MBTA running roughly north-south through Boston, Massachusetts into neighboring communities. The line begins west of Boston, in Cambridge, Massachusetts at Alewife station, near the intersection of Alewife Brook Parkway and Route 2...
and its stations. This effort was known as the "Arts on the Line
Arts on the Line
Arts on the Line was a program devised to bring art into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Arts on the Line was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar drives for art across the country...
" program, and was "the first program in the nation to put works of art in public transportation systems." The work was not installed until 1987 due to station reconstruction.
Due to fears of the art work being vandalized, Matisse decided to place the sculpture between the inbound and outbound tracks of the station before even deciding on what to create. He said "It had a third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
on one side, a third rail on the other side, and I thought it would be safe." Matisse is known for other interactive sound sculptures, such as his Musical Fence (1980), which was originally installed in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, and now is located at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln is a town in the historic area of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,362 at the 2010 census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits...
.
Pythagoras
The Pythagoras section of the Kendall Band is named for the philosopherGreek philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCE and continued through the Hellenistic period, at which point Ancient Greece was incorporated in the Roman Empire...
, mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, and scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
Pythagoras of Samos, who is best known for the Pythagorean theorem
Pythagorean theorem
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras' theorem is a relation in Euclidean geometry among the three sides of a right triangle...
. The sculpture consists of 16 4 inches (101.6 mm), 1/4 in aluminum tubular bell
Tubular bell
Tubular bells are musical instruments in the percussion family. Each bell is a metal tube, 30–38 mm in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Its standard range is from C4-F5, though many professional instruments reach G5 . Tubular bells are often replaced by studio chimes, which are a smaller...
s, all tuned in the key of B minor
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A. Its key signature has two sharps .Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major....
. The longer bells create low pitches, while the shorter bells create higher pitches in the scale. When a handle on the wall of the subway platform is pulled, teak-headed hammers swing back and forth between the bells, striking them and creating the musical notes. Due to asymmetrical slits located at the nodal points in the bells, each chime's note plays a slight vibrato
Vibrato
Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied .-Vibrato and...
.
There are actually two identical, completely separate and independent musical instruments comprising Pythagoras. One can be operated from a handle located on the inbound subway platform, and the other can be played simultaneously from a handle on the outbound side. The hammers are not directly coupled to the handles, to prevent them from striking the chimes too violently. Instead, the handles must be rhythmically moved back and forth at an appropriate frequency, depending on the physical phenomenon of mechanical resonance
Resonance
In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies...
to build up enough energy to strike the chimes. Which chimes are sounded when depends in a complex manner on the recent history of handle movement. Although the detailed mathematical analysis of motions is quite complex, most visitors quickly and intuitively figure out how to operate the sculpture without any written instructions.
Kepler
The Kepler section is named for Johannes KeplerJohannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
, a 17th century German mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and astrologer
Astrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
. This instrument features a 125-pound, 55-inch, metal ring that plays an F♯ when struck. This note creates a harmonic perfect fifth
Perfect fifth
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...
with the tones sounded by Pythagoras. The ring plays this note when a handle on either subway platform is manipulated, which in turn ratchets a hammer upward until it falls and strikes the ring. After the ring is struck, it will continue to hum for five minutes.
Galileo
The Galileo instrument is a large metal sheet the size of a barn door, and is named for Italian physicistPhysicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
, and philosopher Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
. The flat panel of steel works like a thunder sheet
Thunder sheet
A thunder sheet is a thin sheet of metal used to produce sound effects for musical or dramatic events. The device may be shaken, causing it to vibrate, or struck with a mallet....
. When a handle on either station platform is moved, the sheet shakes and creates a low rumbling sound, similar to the sound of thunder
Thunder
Thunder is the sound made by lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the listener, thunder can range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble . The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within...
, or the sound trains make when rolling through the station.
Installation and repairs
Paul Matisse was the only artist commissioned for the initial "Arts on the Line" program who created an artwork with moving parts. Almost immediately after the Kendall Band was installed, it broke. The sculpture began to fail so quickly that the Pythagoras instrument stopped working before the other two could even be completely installed. Matisse later commented that, "You’d probably have to say it was folly of me to press ahead and present them with something that had moving parts...(but)...I figured it was going to be all right."Matisse would post temporary signs in place of the instrument handles on the walls of Kendall Station, whenever repair work was taking place on the Kendall Band. Responses which were scrawled in the margins by passengers ranged from "If you spent my tax $ on this, then may you DIE SLOWLY!!" to “If you spent tax dollars on this, may you live long + happily." Other comments included “Great to do while stoned!", “Thank you for making me forget the horrors of this day", and “Try to get a tapered connection from the first vertical to the second on this side and an oversized second vertical linkage with perhaps an internal shock absorber".
Over time, repairs and additions to the sculpture were completed that made the work more resilient. One of the more-important modifications added a set of clutches hidden behind the handles of the instruments, which disengage "when someone yanks too hard or too fast."
No repair or upgrade work can be embarked upon until 1:30am each night, which is when the MBTA stops running trains. Matisse himself had to personally repair the sculpture whenever it broke, and he was not able to find any organization or corporation that was willing to take over the upkeep of the Band. Because of this, Matisse eventually abandoned the work after roughly 20 years of maintenance. He later stated, “I just kept it going, and then at one point I decided that I was just going to have to let it go out on its own... Sort of like one’s kids. The time comes."
Decline into disrepair
A one-time $10,000 fix was paid for by the MBTA in 2007, but the transit agency then stated that it could not fund any future repairs. All further repairs made to the sculpture had to be carried out and paid for by Matisse out of his own pocket. In 2007, when the now 74-year-old Paul Matisse stopped patching up the Kendall Band, the sculpture quickly fell into disrepair. Out of the original six handles, four had been removed, and only Galileo was in a working state.The only engineering drawings for the Kendall Band were also lost in a hard-drive crash during this period.
Kendall Band Preservation Society
In 2010 a group of students at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
were brought together to repair and conserve the Kendall Band. The idea for the group came from Seth G. Parker, a principal at a Massachusetts based energy consulting firm. He got in touch with the head of the Concerts Office in Music and Theater Arts at MIT, Clarise E. Snyder. She in turn contacted Paul Matisse and the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering, who recommended that instructor Michael J. Tarkanian be supervisor of the project to repair the sculpture.
About 20 students were gathered to work on the cataloging and repair of the instruments, with seven of them chosen to actually dismantle the work. The students dubbed themselves "The Kendall Band Preservation Society."
In April 2010, the Kendall Band Preservation Society started dismantling the Kendall Band, and the general manager of the MBTA, Richard A. Davey Jr., stopped in to speak to the students and wish them luck in repairing the artwork. The students taped up signs in the same fashion as Paul Matisse did when he repaired the Band, and comments were again scrawled in the margins.
According to Michael J. Tarkanian, “I think we will be able to get the instruments functional over the span of a few months, but our longer term goal is to complete [sic] refurbish and document each instrument. That will be a much longer project, on the order of years.”
As of May 2011, Pythagoras has been completely restored to operation, and work continues on the other two instruments.