{"id":3543,"date":"2019-06-21T18:01:14","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T18:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dgen.net\/0\/?p=3543"},"modified":"2019-06-23T20:25:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T20:25:27","slug":"longplayerday-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dgen.net\/0\/2019\/06\/21\/longplayerday-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Longplayer Day 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

I opened the second edition of Longplayer Day<\/a>, a peripatetic festival that takes inspiration from the themes and philosophies that underpin Jem Finer\u2019s one-thousand-year-long musical composition, Longplayer.<\/p>\n

\"\"The programme linked two locations together: Goldsmiths, University of London (New Cross) and the Longplayer listening post at Trinity Buoy Wharf (Poplar), conveying the supportive and collaborative relationship that exists between Goldsmiths and the Longplayer Trust. It began on the stroke of noon, Thursday 20 June 2019, and brought together an extraordinary programme of artists, performers and thinkers.<\/p>\n

A few people asked for a copy of my talk, so here is a transcription.<\/p>\n

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Hello. My name is Gavin Starks.\u00a0\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been working at the intersection of b<\/span>usiness, technology, science, art and media for over 20 years. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m one of the Trustees of Longplayer and one of my roles is to help us think through how this piece will keep going for another 1000 years, and what that might mean. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have a lot of questions for us today. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been interested in time \u00a0\u2014 I studied both<\/span> Astrophysics and Electronic Music <\/span><\/p>\n

A few years ago, when I joined, I asked Jem about the origins of the project. <\/span><\/p>\n

We discussed how time works ( and how clocks aren\u2019t really helpful when thinking about it). <\/span><\/p>\n

We talked about how we are obsessed with time, yet rarely <\/span>take time<\/b>; or really take time to figure out our relationship with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jem recounted childhood memories with his father; of getting a telescope, looking at the stars and learning from him that they\u2019d been there for millions of years;<\/span><\/p>\n

He recounted tuning into shortwave radio in South America and wondering \u2018what\u2019s in between the stations?\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jem reflected on our sense of time: its vastness; its intangibility; <\/span><\/p>\n

of nightmares about time; <\/span><\/p>\n

of developing an obsession about the idea of time; <\/span><\/p>\n

of playing music and this experience being \u201con the cusp of controlling time\u201d; <\/span><\/p>\n

that playing music time seemed almost eternal; <\/span><\/p>\n

that \u2018other times\u2019 were \u201cvery long presents\u201d;<\/span><\/p>\n

and how Longplayer is still a blip. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jem learned that stars exhibit acoustic properties and are – \u00a0in effect – ringing like bells\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

The singing bowls were the outcome of a long process of thinking about time, not a starting point. <\/span><\/p>\n

Personally, I am fascinated by the ridiculous nature of time and our attempts to quantify it: from <\/span>Plank time<\/span><\/a> (10^-44) to the 13 billion years of <\/span>Cosmological time<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

to the duration of a political idea — to the length of a bad joke. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How are we meant to relate to and across these ideas?<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, one of the things that is attractive about Longplayer is just the idea of thinking on a longer timeframe, beyond your life, or you children, or grandchildren. <\/span><\/p>\n

A 1,000 years is \u00a0\u00a030 to 40 generations. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is at significant odds with the pace of life today. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine how to think about making something that would last 1000 years. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Longplayer vision not only embraces this 1000 year view. It \u2018repeats\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what does this mean? How do we begin to think about it? <\/span><\/p>\n

We have many ways to engage around the idea \u2014\u00a0<\/span>it\u2019s not just a single piece of music.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve held many events, such as today; live performances, shared letters, scores, set up listening posts, sold \u2018sponsored days\u2019 and generated conversations \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Longplayer can be considered as a combination of many elements: <\/span><\/p>\n