Pianococktail – a piano that plays drinks!

Posted by on Jul 3, 2011 in Blog, Etc | No Comments

I have only seen the Pianococktail once, at an ITP student show (2008) at NYU, in New York City.
It is a piano whose keys actuate solenoids that open valves to bottles containing drink mixtures, Red Bull, alcohol and soda.
Whatever song you play will mix its own special drink.
I’ve always thought this was one of the most innovative pieces I’ve ever seen and have never forgotten it. I Googled the artist, Geraldine Schenkel today, and was disappointed to find little information on her. The Piano Cocktail site is in French, but Google Translate takes care of that if you don’t speak it.

Here’s a little (translated) blurb from the site:
The pianocoktail is a bar above all: that the pianist plays, it is necessary that people drink. The piano does the rest. A trill in a position to mix the rum syrup, cane sugar and the dose of tequila will be discharged by an F sharp.
Each has its own cocktail music: you choose an alcohol. Or melody … (see menu) and passes control to the pianist.
There are non-alcoholic cocktails for children and pregnant women.
And for the purposes of the evening, you can taste the coffin: a gutter that gets the wrong notes, stray bullets, lost doses of vodka and ginger juice spurts …

Here’s a video:



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