Fundação de Serralves and Porto Pianofest are joining forces to present the iconic installation Piano Garden by Annea Lockwood. This marks an expansion of the festival, exploring other forms of artistic expression beyond the traditional concert and recital format.The installation will be inaugurated on August 9th, during the festival's 11th edition. The opening event will feature a brief musical moment of sonic exploration of the pianos, followed by a Portuguese Vinho Verde reception.

Annea Lockwood 'Piano Garden' (1969–1970)
A major figure in experimental music and sound art, Annea Lockwood is one of the artists who has most profoundly explored the transformation of how we listen to sound, our relationship with nature, and the very act of composing. A pioneer of sound sculpture and expanded composition, her work challenges the conventions of the Western musical tradition.Among her most striking works is the 'Piano Transplants' series, begun in 1968, which takes the piano — the quintessential instrument of Western classical music — as its starting point to question its symbolic and material status. The term "transplants" refers directly to the impact of the first heart transplants performed at the time, particularly that of Christiaan Barnard in 1967. Lockwood appropriates this idea to imagine "transplanting" irrecoverable pianos into new ecosystems, where they cease to be instruments and become sonic bodies in permanent transformation.Created in 1969, 'Piano Garden' is one of the central works in this historic series. Its score instructs: "Dig a sloping trench and slip an upright piano in sideways so that it is half interred […] Plant fast growing trees and creepers around the piano. Do not protect against weather and leave the piano there forever." Partially buried, the piano is given over to the action of vegetation, weather, insects, and animals, establishing an ongoing dialogue with non-human processes. The work invites a radically different kind of listening, one in which growth, erosion, and decay become part of the composition itself. Presented in contexts such as documenta 14 (Kassel), the Monash University Museum of Art (Melbourne), and numerous international festivals and exhibitions, 'Piano Garden' remains a landmark work in the history of sound art and a major reference point in contemporary creation.