The exhibition explored Conrad’s contribution to improvised music and enduring relationship with free invention as it relates to his film and performance work through a comprehensive presentation of the artist’s invented acoustical tools - self-developed musical instruments made from everyday materials.

The exhibition also presented two new sound works, Conrad’s most seminal film The Flicker (1966) screened here in 16mm, as well as a feature length documentary of the artist playing the acoustical tools from 2012.

Exhibition Curator: Chloe Reith

Presented in partnership with Galerie Buchholz, Cologne/Berlin, and Greene Naftali, New York. With thanks to the Tony Conrad Supporters Circle.

Installation views. Images by John McKenzie. 

Events Programme

Tony Conrad Live at Inverleith House

Sunday 9 November 2014

Inverleith House was delighted to welcome Tony Conrad who played a selection of the invented acoustical tools and presented a number of additional works in film and video.

Tony Conrad playing live at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2014.

Yati Durant discusses Tony Conrad's Invented Acoustical Tools

Saturday 15 November 2014

Yati Durant, Lecturer in Music, Sound & Moving Image and Programme Director of MSc in Composition for Screen at The Reid School of Music, Edinburgh University led a discussion on the exhibition connecting Tony Conrad’s artistic processes with his musical production providing a unique perspective on the invented acoustical tools through the legacy of experimental music.

Performance shots, Tony Conrad, Invented Acoustical Tools 1969 - 2014, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2014. Images by Alistair Millar

Luke Fowler & Lee Patterson: Performance for Invented Acoustical Tools and Synthesis

Sunday 14th December 2014

To accompany the exhibition artists Luke Fowler (whose Inverleith House exhibition was shortlisted for the 2012 Turner Prize) and Lee Paterson presented a musical performance celebrating Tony Conrad's use of invented instruments and its influence on a new generation of musicians, created in direct response to the exhibition and using some of the works on display.

Closing Performance: Yati Durant and Improvisation Ensemble

Sunday 18 January 2015 

To mark the closing of the exhibition we were delighted to welcome back Lecturer and Programme Director at The Reid School of Music, Yati Durant and his musical colleagues.

From 1-3pm during the final day of Tony Conrad: Invented Acoustical Tools the gallery was filled with spontaneous and improvised sounds in response to Conrad's invented instruments.

Performance shot. Image by Alistair Millar