LONGPLAYER BOWL INSTALLATION
Trinity Buoy Wharf, London
Fabrication and installation – Littlehampton Welding Ltd
Structural Engineer – Tall consulting Engineer
Photography by James Whitaker
Longplayer is a one thousand year long musical composition conceived and composed by Jem Finer. It began playing at midnight on the 31st of December 1999, and will continue to play without repetition until the last moment of 2999, at which point it will complete its cycle and begin again.
Ingrid was commissioned to design a display and storage system for the 234 singing bowls that are part of the 66-foot-wide orchestral instrument used to perform Longplayer Live. The idea is based on a circular form evoking the movement of the Longplayer Live instrument and of the cycle of the music itself.
Each tier of the structure, containing 39 bowls positioned sequentially, corresponds to one of the six concentric rings of the Longplayer Live instrument. The curvatures are derived from the diameter of each bowl, allowing the handmade bowls to stand out.
The steel structure was installed in the Lighthouse, Trinity Buoy Wharf – home of Longplayer - in autumn 2012.
Aesthetica Art Prize 2014
Longplayer Bowl Display shortlisted for 2014 Aesthetica Art Prize 3D Design/Sculpture category
Exhibition at York St Mary's, 4th April - 22nd June, 2014
Organised by Aesthetica Magazine, the international art and culture publication, in partnership with York Museums Trust, the Art Prize is a platform for emerging contemporary artists from across the world to bring their work to a wider audience. Taking place in the exceptional setting of York St Mary’s – York Art Gallery’s contemporary art space, the exhibition reframes the relationship between the historic and the contemporary by uniting the international rising stars of the art world in a major group show.
Longplayer is one of the four Main Prize finalists. A 1:3 model of the original installation has been made for the exhibition, alongside the audio clip from the 1000 minutes performance.
www.aestheticamagazine.com/art-prize-exhibition