Dark Water

Posting one of my daily piano improvisations. At a later time these often become sonic layers in my sound works.

Image: Monika Weiss, "Metamorphosis V", 2021. Graphite powder, pencil, water and resin on paper, 32 x 22 inches [close up]. Photo: Bartosz Górka

Piano Improvisation Jan 25 2025

This is a very raw recording of this morning brief piano meditation in which the piano surprised me. At first it lead me towards some dark low tones, which happens a lot. Towards the end, it guided me into much lighter, gentler sounds. I dedicate this very humble improvisation to the memory of one of my heroes, the great minimalist composer Julius Eastman.

My art happens at the boundary between visual and sonic expression or rather, inside that boundary. I recall improvising on the piano on the morning of my first live performance in New York, at Diapason gallery in 2002. The gallery, devoted to sound and media art, was founded by composer Michael J. Schumacher. The exhibition space had a beautiful grand piano.

The live performance was an immersion in water, which was filling my vessel-like sculpture, 'Ennoia'. My collaborator, sound artist Stephen Vitiello, inserted microphones into the water. One could hear sounds of the underwater breathing and the water being moved by my curled up body, slowly moving in a circular way. 

What was not known to the audience was that the immersion performance was very much fueled by my time alone with the piano earlier that day. The body of the piano and my body became vessels, meant to emit sound. 

Image: detail from "Inverted Explosions X", 2022

Piano Meditation July 3 2025

30 Articles for Viola and fixed electronics.
Ralf Ehlers: Viola
Zaid Jabri: Electronics

30 Articles (2016)

Julius Eastman

02 D'OM LE VRAI SENS - II. La Vue

Serenatas
I. Delicato
II. Agitato
III. Dolce
IV. Languido
V. Misterioso

Serenatas I. Delicato

Terra memoria

Monika Weiss is a Polish-American contemporary intermedia artist based in New York since 2001.

Piano Meditation July 3 2025

Monika Weiss

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