Longplayer is a 1000-year-long musical composition curated by founding member of The Pogues, Jem Finer. It has been playing continuously since the start of the year 2000, and is designed to play without any interruption or repetition until the final moments of the year 2999.
I found the experience of Longplayer to be quite entrancing as I was constantly being pulled into a dream like state every time I closed my eyes and focused on the piece. An interesting aspect of this installation is that the score will always live on as through 6 ‘simple’ algorithms, the whole piece has already been calculated. Unless the score is somehow destroyed. I’m definitely interested to keep note of Longplayers existence throughout my life as over time I expect my hearing to change.
Something that came as a surprise to me was the cost of upkeep inside of the Trinity Buoy Wharf lighthouse. It costs about £100 a day resulting in a cost of £36,544 a year. This is surprising as this instalment is only for visual and educational purposes. The score is in fact stored in various forms, such as oral, digital and paper.