Nine Jam Symphony

`9 Jam Symphony’ – City park, Baden bei Vienna, Austria This project was located at the `Beethoven Temple’ (a folly dedicated to Beethoven in the park overlooking the city). Beethoven had written part of the 9th Symphony in Baden, inspired by Shiller’s Ode to Joy. Known as a celebration of Brotherhood, the Ode contained an affinity for nature (the painting on the ceiling of the temple showed people frolicking through flowers). With the Temple being surrounded by `nature’ (the park), alongside my own interest in food, I re-imagined Beethoven as a chef, re-writing his symphony as a series of nine recipes for jam. I visualised Beethoven strolling around the park looking for inspiration or perhaps ingredients (as I did). I gathered up anything in the park which could conceivably make jam, and documented the process. The nine jams ranged from perfectly edible (rose or jasmine petal jams) to `a bit iffy’ (copper beech leaf jam) to something to be totally avoided (beer bottle top and cigarette butt jams). I gave the bust of Beethoven a chef’s hat (I had to sew 3 hats together as his head was rather large), wove vines into music stands, and displayed the jams, documentation and recipes in the Temple. During the presentation, people were encouraged to taste the jams. The flower petal jams were lapped up. Alas, the Cigarette Butt Jam stayed untouched, an unfavoured movement in the symphony, I guess.