David Byrne toils in factory

When musician David Byrne says he is going to “play a factory” in Stockholm, he is not planning a gig at a trendy new venue, but talking literally. The founder of the band Talking Heads has turned an unused paint factory by the Swedish waterside into a giant musical instrument, constructed around an old wooden pump organ with its entrails ripped out and replaced with wires and pipes.

“The public can just come in and sit down and play what they like,” he said of “Playing the Building,” a hands-on art installation that runs until mid-November.

The organ’s keys and stops are linked to dozens of clear plastic tubes that pump air through the factory vents to make a range of whistle noises, bang hammers that clank against hollow iron pillars and start four engines on the roof.

“It’s a very democratic instrument: Everyone is reduced to the same amateur level,” Byrne said.