Pop-Up Piano Returns

POP-UP PIANO PROJECT, 88 sets of ivory keys are popping up across the five boroughs, including one in Grand Army Plaza and another at the Prospect Park carousel. While there will be scheduled performances at each location, they're mostly there for passersby to hop on for some impromptu jamming.

According to their WEBSITE, the non-profit group "mobilizes professional artists in volunteer service programs that benefit schools, hospitals and communities." For this particular project they collect "dying" pianos, refurbish them, and hand them off to artists for the beautification process. Among this year's designers are Isaac Mizrahi and Diane Von Furstenberg. Once the installation is over the pianos will be donated to local hospitals and schools.

The grand piano housed in the marble gazebo at GAP was designed by artist RICHARD FINE. He says of the piano, which has been named This Too Shall Pass:

"This Pop-Up Piano is about the passing of time and its inevitability. The bits of paper collaged upon this piano show us that the problems of the past always become the possibilities of the future."