If you stumbled across a piano while strolling through a park in Bristol, what would you do?

That’s the question being asked by Southville artist Luke Jerram, who will be installing 16 “street pianos” in Bristol next month.

The second-hand, upright pianos will be placed in locations across the city, including Stokes Croft, Clifton and Broadmead.

From Chopin to Chopsticks, anyone will be able to play anything they like on the pianos, described by the artist as a musical blank canvas.

Locals will also be invited to decorate the pianos, which can be played from 8am to 8pm or 10pm every day, from Friday, September 4, to Monday, September 28.

Mr Jerram has taken the “Play Me, I’m Yours” project to cities across the world, installing more than 100 “Joannas” in Sydney, Sao Paulo, Birmingham and London.

But the idea, originally conceived in a Bedminster launderette, is finally coming home to the city that inspired it.

Mr Jerram, 34, said: “I noticed in Bedminster I might go to the launderette and see the same people every week.

“But no one talks to each other, it’s like a hidden, invisible community.

“I thought about playing piano as a catalyst to talking, and transforming a public square into a shared space. It’s amazing to see. In Sao Paulo some people had never had the chance to see a piano, people would travel three hours to play.”

A dedicated Bristol website is being set up that will allow anyone who uses the pianos to post photographs, comments or videos of performances.

There will also be a map showing all the locations across the city.

Mr Jerram said: “The pianos act as a blank canvas for other people’s creativity, it’s not about what I might come up with.

“In Sydney we had ‘piano pilgrims’ who were determined to play all the pianos in the city.

“They played the same tune on each and then edited a film together, it was very clever.

“Other people have dressed up like Mozart.”

The 16 pianos for Bristol have been bought in a job lot from Bath, for about £100 each.

Bristol City Council has applied for licences for six of the locations; Stapleton Road; Turbo Island, Stokes Croft; Greystoke Avenue, Southmead; Broadwalk shopping centre; Avonvale Road, and Dame Emily Park, Bedminster.

The other 10 pianos will be placed where the authority already has a music licence: Queens Square; The Podium at Broadmead; Castle Park; College Green; Waterfront; Brandon Hill park; St Georges Park; Victoria Park and Horfield Common or a nearby location.

One immediate concern in leaving pianos in public places 24 hours a day would be vandalism or even theft.

The pianos will be tethered to trees or other static objects by steel cables and locked up at the end of each day. But Mr Jerram says that leaving them in the great outdoors is part of the project.

He said: “None of them have been nicked, one or two have been completely wrecked by vandals.

“To an extent that is OK. We want to reach a broad and diverse range of locations.”

The scheme is being funded as part of the celebrations to mark the £20-million regeneration of Colston Hall’s foyer.

Mr Jerram is a professional artist, married with two children, and has a studio at Spike Island.

He said he was looking forward to finally having the project up and running in his home city.

He said: “It’s going to be lovely. When we presented the artwork in London it was great but really hard working in a city I didn’t really know. There was a huge amount of legislation and bureaucracy, but coming back here it’s bright and soft by comparison.”

To see how other people around the world have reacted to the street pianos, go to streetpianos.com