'Phantom Keyboard' (sculpture with recorded sound) exhibited as part of 'Trackers' group exhibition, PM Gallery London, 30th April – 4th July 2004

'Phantom Keyboard' was presented as part of Trackers, a group show at the PM Gallery, London in 2004, curated by Alejandro Ospina and Charles Danby. This work was a sculptural representation of drawings, installations and live vocal performances, which took place during a residency at West Dean College in 2003 and alluded to the painted decoration of harpsichords and early arcade video game furniture. During the residency I explored the relationship between the figure and the garden as artificial landscape, referring to eighteenth century landscape design, early computer game imagery and contemporary phantasmagoria. Ah-Ah: A Game for the Garden, performances, drawings and songs, was presented as part of a group show curated by Dr Sharon-Michi Kusunoki, during the West Dean Garden Event June 2003.

'Phantom Keyboard' was exhibited as part Trackers a group exhibition of twenty-one artists - which drew together established artists such as Stuart Brisley and Bruce McLean, with younger artists, including Goshka Macuga and Nathaniel Rackowe. The exhibition utilised the purpose built gallery space and the residential building designed by architect John Soane and later the drawing room was developed by architect George Dance, where the Sculpture Phantom Keyboard was installed in response to the decorated interior of the space.

An accompanying catalogue to the exhibition was published: Trackers 2004: An exhibition by twenty one artists curated by Alejandro Ospina and Charles Danby. The accompanying text for Phantom Keyboard was written by Soraja Rodriguez. ISBN: 0-9538583-5-9. Trackers was supported by PM Gallery and by Ealing Borough Council.

The notion of conflating the futurist or artificial with the historic or handmade was developed by using the 1930’s jelly mould designs of the Compton Theatre organ in a public art intervention Light Music as part of Space Between (2007), commissioned by the Towner Art Gallery for the artist collective SpRoUt – of which Cunningham has been a key member since 2004. It formed part of a series of initiatives to raise awareness of the Towner’s relocation to the Eastbourne Cultural Centre, funded by Heritage Lottery, Arts Council and South East Development Agency.