Überorgan

This massive construction of bus-sized balloons and horns seems to float under the central rotunda of the Getty Museum's Entrance Hall. The work exemplifies Hawkinson's use of the ordinary to achieve the extraordinary, combining and recomposing common industrial materials and found musical phrases in a multisensory sculptural experience. Never before shown on the West Coast, Überorgan changes with every installation. At the Getty it playfully interacts with and responds to the modernist white walls, travertine, and glass of Richard Meier's architecture.

The musical score for Überorgan consists of a 250-foot-long scroll. Black dots and dashes encode the notes of traditional hymns, pop songs, and improvisational tunes. The notes are deciphered by light-sensitive switches in its player and scrambled to create an endless variety of compositions.

Überorgan will perform for five minutes every hour on the hour throughout the run of this exhibition.

This exhibition is located at the Getty Center, West Pavilion, Terrace level (L2). Überorgan is located at the Getty Center, Museum Entrance Hall.