London, U.K. | Astounding Timepieces
Conceived by Jem Finer of Irish punk band The Pogues, the Longplayer is a musical composition 1,000 years in length. Its first performance began at midnight on December 31, 01999 and will conclude at the end of 02999. It was composed for Tibetan Singing Bowls and is played by layering and looping several recordings of the bowls. The loops are phased just out of sync with each other so that it will take precisely 1,000 years before the pattern they create repeats.
The composition is available for listening on the web(http://longplayer.org/listen/download.php) and in several select locations around the world (http://longplayer.org/where/). The first is in the lighthouse on the Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. It can also be heard at the Royal Observatory in London, the Orangery in Nottinghamshire, the Bibliotheca Alexandia in Egypt, The Long Now Museum & Store in San Francisco, and the Brisbane Powerhouse in Queensland, Australia.
The piece usually exists only in digital form – as a live stream on the internet – and at these listening stations. In September of 2009, Finer arranged the first live performance of LongPlayer at the Roundhouse in London (http://longplayer.org/live/) where 1,000 minutes of the piece were performed on a custom built instrument.
The Longplayer Trust is the organization Finer created, which is charged with researching and implementing the means to sustain, implement, and spread awareness of Longplayer for at least its first 1,000 year-long performance.
In conjunction with the Long Now Foundation. Modified from original video and text by Austin Brown at the Long Now Blog.
