Harmonium Piece -
February 2007

(95 x 240 x 110cm)
Electric organ, table, crockery, cutlery, wood, mouse traps, rock cakes, monofilament, timer switches, flowers, electric motors.

Vulnerable Melody,
Balanced Memories.
Mentality Scattered,
A life Sliced.

Loneliness is an empty mousetrap,
Emptiness Stirred in a Cup.

Energy Dissipates to a Sleeping Table.

Cutlery and crockery lay strewn across the floor, maybe out of despair of the living or mischief of someone who has since passed away.

Rock cakes and active mouse traps are scattered amongst the crockery. The mousetraps are empty and the rock cakes untouched. The only living things are flowers in a vase perched on a sloping tabletop. Even their vitality is fading.

Suddenly the harmonium starts playing and cutlery starts dancing. The loneliness is deadened if only for a few moments, it is a sad presence but a welcome one.


This ghostly scene was my first kinetic installation. I wanted to convey a sense of loss and loneliness. This installation was used for my level 2 show in Falmouth. The open plan group show was nowhere near as intimate or eerie as the darkened installation space I first used. So to accompany the piece in the show I wrote the poem above.

I also included an old photo of a young woman. Her image sat tentatively on the harmonium, where sheet music should sit. When the organ suddenly starts playing by itself, it is as though it is because of her supernatural presence.

The photo was actually of a distant relation, named Ethel, who rather tragically committed suicide at a young age.

Another student gave me a copy of his interpetation of the installation in the level two show...

>> Scott Ovens, Interpretation.