Since I live in New York City I do receive such requests.  A few years
ago I received such a request from an artist by the name of Fritzie
Brown, who made a piano roll from the markings on birch bark.  (She
also thinks that dishes stacked on a sink is art.)

She and I couldn't find anyone willing to loan her a piano as described
by Lucy Raven in 111118's posting, so she recorded her roll on my piano
and played the recording on a large screen monitor in the various
venues in New York and Europe while displaying the actual roll on the
wall of the museum.  (During the recording the photographer and I put
our fingers in our ears.)

I currently have another artist in Brooklyn looking for a player piano
for several venues, including New York City and Europe, with another
roll produced from the marks on birch bark.

A couple years ago I was approached by an artist in Berlin who had
developed a piano roll by removing certain phrases from the pages of
a book and was scheduled to play it for a live audience in Manhattan.

That same artist produced a smaller version from a smaller book by an
egotist, by removing all of the personal pronouns, on a roll to fit
my Castlewood organ, which was much easier to transport.  I was asked
to play the organ roll several times at different speeds before the
enamored people in the audience.  None of them had ever heard a crank
organ before or such a music(?) roll.

The piano roll was recorded and projected onto a large screen, which
you can watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkG_qAk7zxQ.   The
same artist is currently looking for the use of a player piano for his
art to be played live, in Denver and Toronto, in the same manner that
Lucy Raven describes.

I try to tell these people that player pianos are sensitive instruments,
that they weigh over 1,000 pounds, and that they need to have someone
on hand who can handle the instrument and knows how to operate it.
I also tell them that most player pianos do not have a replay option.

I welcome any comments, and working player pianos that could be offered
such people, etc.

Vincent Morgan - Lady Liberty Chapter AMICA
New York City