Marco D’Andrea received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in 2004. He has recently completed a Master in Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario. His work has been shown in Halifax, and the artist will be featured in an exhibition in Toronto in 2008.

Maybe Me and Glenn Gould Could be Friends in Outerspace (Prelude in C)
Audio and Mixed Media

The Voyager Golden Record is a phonograph record that was included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. Amongst its various sonic material is a recording of ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1’ by JS Bach being played by Canada’s own Glenn Gould. It seems this is the only sound made by a Canadian that has ever been deliberately launched into space... that is until the McCleave/S.A.G.S.R.I. Space Mission.

Maybe Me and Glenn Gould Could be Friends in Outerspace (Prelude in C) is a new recording of the same Bach piece, played by D’Andrea. While Gould was a virtuoso of tremendous talent and skill, D’Andrea cannot play Bach, or the piano for that matter. D’Andrea’s arrangement does not resemble Gould’s – rather, it is reduced to the individual notes played a few at a time, and recorded in multiple takes and edited digitally. The result is a lengthy recording of layered notes, resembling the parts as opposed to the whole of Bach’s piece.

It is hoped that this work, once launched in the McCleave/S.A.G.S.R.I. 2007-2008 Space Mission, will initiate interstellar communication with Canada’s most famous musician and the rest of the terrestrial and extra-terrestrial listeners.

- Marco D'Andrea (2007)