Artist Catherine Yass's Proposal to Drop Piano from High-Rise is Rejected

Turner Prize-nominated artist Catherine Yass's proposal to drop a piano off of a London building was rejected by the Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association. She conceived the idea as a "part of a community workshop to explore how sound travels," and wanted to carry out the stunt at an empty tower. According to the London Evening Standard, local residents heard of the plan, which has been called "dangerous and ludicrous, and started signing a petition that requested the building's owners to block the project.

Local residents have spoken out about their disapproval of the stunt:

Neighbor Jean Brown said, "People seem to have finally come to their senses. The idea shouldn't have been thought up in the first place. To have it discussed by the board was ludicrous. The community association employs anti-social behavior officers and if chucking a piano off the Balfron Tower isn't anti-social behavior I don't know what is."

London-based video artist Nick Stewart, a London-based video artist, saw the proposal as a symptom of the current climate of the art world, saying, "There has been a rash of art projects of late that speak more about artist arrogance than art."

The idea of the drop has sullied Yass's reputation throughout London. A spokesman for local artists' collective Whiteism tweeted: "I thought it was a joke to be honest. I had a lot of respect for Catherine Yass. Not any more."

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