Release Date: February 2, 2006

National Gallery of Art to Premiere Unique Version of Dada Film Score

A crowd gathers to witness a fully robotic performance of George Antheil’s “Le Ballet mécanique” at the National Gallery of Art, East Building, in honor of the Dada exhibition, performed at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. weekdays, and 1:00 p.m. weekends through May 7, 2006. © 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Photo by Ric Blanc.

Washington, DC – Excerpts from the rarely performed music for the well-known Dada film, Le Ballet mécanique (1924) will be premiered in a fully mechanized format at the National Gallery of Art, March 12 through May 7, in conjunction with the Gallery’s Dada exhibition, on view from February 19 through May 14, 2006. When American George Antheil (1900–1959) composed the score for the film he envisioned it as being performed with 16 player pianos and other mechanical devices and two live pianists, but that proved impossible with the technology that existed in his lifetime. With the help of computers and electronics, a fully mechanized performance is now possible with the help of robotically controlled instruments, designed and installed by Paul D. Lehrman of Tufts University and Eric Singer of the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR). More information about the music for Le Ballet mécanique can be found at www.antheil.org and www.lemurbots.org.

An orchestra of automated musical instruments, including 16 baby grand player pianos with Pianomation® systems provided by QRS Music Technologies, Inc. of Naples, Florida, will be installed on the East Building mezzanine, programmed to play a portion of the original 27-minute score for the film Le Ballet mécanique. The installation will be activated for a ten-minute performance each weekday at 1:00 and 4:00 pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 pm. The 16-minute film was directed by artist Fernand Léger with cinematography by Dudley Murphy and Man Ray and may be viewed in the exhibition, without sound, in Gallery 13.

Dada is the first major museum exhibition in the United States to explore in-depth this influential avant-garde art movement. Responding to the disasters of World War I and an emerging modern media and machine culture, Dada artists led a creative revolution that profoundly shaped the course of 20th-century art. Nearly 500 works will be featured in a dynamic media installation that includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, collages, prints, and film and sound recordings by over 40 artists. To learn more, visit www.nga.gov.

Exhibition Support and Organization

Dada is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation and the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation. Additional support for the exhibition has been provided by the Annenberg Foundation and Thomas G. Klarner. The brochure is made possible by Aaron and Barbara Levine and Pro Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland. The film is made possible by the HRH Foundation. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

If you are a member of the press and would like to be added to our press list, click here.