Tennis Racquets Equipped with Electronic Components

Tennis Racquets Equipped with Electronic Components
[Tennis Racquets Equipped with Electronic Components / designed by Bill Kaminsky and Jim McGee] (1966, 2 items: wood, metal; 68.6 cm X 28 cm and 68.6 cm x 23 cm.

Used as props during Robert Rauschenberg's performance Open Score presented in the context of "9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering" held at the Armory (New York, N.Y., USA) in 1966. Contact microphones fitted onto the racquets picked up the reverberations produced by the impact of the balls. These data were relayed by short wave (FM) to two receivers/transistors and from there to the Armory speakers. At the same time, the impact of the balls hitting the racquet strings triggered an automatic mechanism that shut off the 36 lights on the Armory ceiling one by one.

The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology, 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering fonds.
Photo: Éric Legendre.