The town of Karlsruhe, next to Bruchsal and the German Mechanical
Music Museum, as a part of a project of different sculptures on
the theme "Art in Public Space", has installed now for two years
a sculpture of two huge pinned cylinders.

The idea by sculptor Omi Riesterer was that a barrel is the most
well-known thing people recognize as a music roll: "It's astonishing
how many young people of the modern times also immediately have the
association to a flute-clock when they see the cylinders."

The site is the traffic roundabout in front of the Music High School
in Karlsruhe called "Schloss Gottesaue".  The cylinders are each 7 
meters [23 feet] long and are 1.5 meter [59 inches] diameter!  The
weight of both is 82 tons!  The rollers were previously used in
paper manufacturing; they are made of polished granite from Finland
and inside is a centre shaft of iron.

The pins are placed in the proper position to function and the
barrel on the top plays "La Paloma" and the barrel on the ground plays
"Die Gedanken sind frei [The Thoughts are Free]".

"Although theoretical," emphasizes Riesterer, "one could really play
the melodies if one had a corresponding appliance."

Additional help for Omi Riesterer was provided by the German Mechanical
Music Museum [at Schloss Bruchsal]; the musical arrangements were made
by Elke Jäger-Biber.  In about two years the two cylinders will be
moved to their final site in front of the Bruchsal Museum.

 - - -

For a new barrel organ idea have a look to http://www.morgan-organ.com/ 
For the 100 year festival of the famous English Morgan Cars we created
a limited edition of a "Morgan-Organ".  The Morgan cars are still hand
made and they still use ash wood, the same as we selected for the
20-note street organ.

Kind regards,
Wolfgang Brommer
http://www.jaegerbrommer.de/ 

 [ "Is it art or a construction site?  This here martial-appearing
 [ sculpture certainly doesn't shoot sparrows!" -- Pictures and more at
 [ http://www.ka-news.de/karlsruhe/news.php4?print=1&show=pbm200899-79G 
 [ Try the Google web page translator at
 [ http://translate.google.com/translate_t#web:de|en| 
 [ -- Robbie