The Cartoon Museum in London becomes a music venue for the first time tomorrow (October 10) as it hosts Musical Ink! a performance by Barbara de Biasi of music inspired by the cartoons on its walls.
She was moved to write the music – to be perfomed on flute, viola, harp and tuba – by the recent H.M. Bateman exhibition and by Martin Rowson’s Gulliver Travels artwork:
“Musical Ink began with me visiting the Cartoon Museum and diving into H.M. Bateman’s wonderful exhibition. As soon as I saw Rinking Types [a cartoon from 1910 on the rollerskating craze] and Time Flies [above] I heard music playing in my head.
“I then went upstairs and found Martin Rowson’s beautiful Gulliver, all tied up by these hundreds of little people, witty and satirical in its intent, and also immensely creative and beautiful to experience.
“Cartooning in general, and Bateman’s and Rowson’s in particular, is a very musical art in my opinion. The characters, so well defined in their rights and wrongs, are like musical shapes, waiting to be put on a stave and explored in timbre and dynamics.”
And as if this is not already a unique enough event, the audience will also have the opportunity to create their own cartoons in response to Barbara’s music.
Musical Ink! is free and runs from 7-8pm: Cartoon Museum website