Kirsty Kerr ~ The Organ Project

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Re-formations (1 of 8), 2018. Site~specific intervention: gold thread, misshapen organ pipe. One in a series of reconfigured objects for Husk Creative Space.
Installing Anticipation (2018) at Husk Creative Space, a site~specific intervention fanning 42 gold and white threads from its disused pipe organ.
‍Anticipation (detail), 2018. Site~specific intervention. 39 gold threads, 3 white threads.
‍Anticipation (detail), 2018. Site~specific intervention. 39 gold threads, 3 white threads.
‍Anticipation (detail), 2018. Site~specific intervention. 39 gold threads, 3 white threads.
‍Anticipation (detail), 2018. Site~specific intervention. 39 gold threads, 3 white threads.
‍Anticipation (install view), 2018. Site~specific intervention in response to Husk’s historic organ.
Installing Anticipation (2018) at Husk Creative Space, a site~specific intervention fanning 42 gold and white threads from its disused pipe organ.
Creative research during my residency at Husk Creative Space.
Creative research during my residency at Husk Creative Space.
Creative research during my residency at Husk Creative Space. Left: Archive photograph of the organ under construction, 1959, © Associated Press. Right: Illustration of the organ by John Brennan, © Positif Press, 1975.

Alongside a series of visual interventions, I arranged the reinstatement of the organ’s blower ~ the device supplying wind to the instrument ~ enabling its pipes to sound. I collaborated with organ specialist, Ian Bell, who produced a report on future work needed for full restoration, including the replacement of missing pipes.

I worked with contemporary composers, Rosie Clements and Reuben Penny, who each wrote and premiered a new score for the instrument in its semi~broken / semi~fixed state. The organ was reconnected in February 2018, for its first public performance in over 30 years.

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Husk's organ lit up for its first public performance in over 30 years, for the opening of Shards and Seams exhibition, 2018. Photo by Reuben Penny.
Unmute (install detail), 2018. Audio recording from the first organ sound~check, available to listen to in Husk's gallery space.
Unmute (install detail), 2018. Audio recording from the first organ sound~check, available to listen to in Husk's gallery space.
View of the organ above Husk's gallery space, with the blower cover removed for repair work during my residency. Photo by Jon Bilbrough.
Details of the organ console. Photo by Jon Bilbrough.
Details of the organ console. Photo by Jon Bilbrough.
Composers Rosie Clements and Reuben Penny rehearsing for their performances of Kintsugi and Turbulence and Solitude, two scores specially commissioned for the organ in its semi~broken state.
Husk's organ lit up for its first public performance in over 30 years, for the opening of Shards and Seams exhibition, 2018. Photo by Rebecca Gormally.

^{Documentation by Will Alcock and Jon Bilbrough.}

“…there’s only one word that comes to mind: reverence. I remember on opening night when the organ started to play; the feeling of seeing something so forgotten, a dusty antique, take centre stage again was a special moment. Something everyone had essentially given up on demanded renewed respect and attention.”

~ Francesca Willow, Artist and Writer

‍View Kintsugi: Organ Score by Rosie Clements.

View Turbulence and Solitude: Organ Score by Reuben Penny.

Read the Frobenius Organ Report by Ian Bell.

Play Unmute (2018), recordings from the first organ sound-check and live performance.

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The Organ Project was developed through the Artist~in~Continuum, a residency programme I co~founded at Husk Creative Space in 2015.