Overview
Longplayer is a 1,000 year long musical composition by musician and artist Jem Finer that has been playing since 1999. For 1,000 minutes it will be performed live by 18 musicians on a 60 foot-wide, custom-built instrument, integrating both its score and instrumentation — an orchestra of singing bowls, in YBCA's Forum. Longplayer is presented in conjunction with the Long Conversation, an epic relay of one-to-one conversations among some of the Bay Area's most interesting minds. Interpreting the 6 hour Long Conversation in real time will be a data visualization performance by Sosolimited.
Events
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Longplayer San Francisco: 1,000 Years in Three Simultaneous ActsOct 16, 2010 7:00am – 11:40pm
YBCA ForumLongplayer is a 1,000 year long musical composition by musician and artist Jem Finer that has been playing since 1999. For 1,000 minutes it will be performed live by 18 musicians on a 60 foot-wide, custom-built instrument, integrating both its score and instrumentation — an orchestra of singing bowls, in YBCA's Forum. Longplayer is presented in conjunction with the Long Conversation, an epic relay of one-to-one conversations among some of the Bay Area's most interesting minds. Interpreting the 6 hour Long Conversation in real time will be a data
Curator Statement
Big Idea: SOAR: The Search for Meaning
Because I'm a chronic spaz, I've finally committed myself to the practice of walking meditation. I experiment with various forms of intentional walking and it calms me, slows my breath, slows down time. And in this place, I begin. Of course, it helps to have noise-reduction earphones & limitless podcasts to select from courtesy of the digital "cloud." I've recently become obsessed with how music alters breath. Basically, ring a Tibetan bowl or promise me one hand clapping and I'm subscribing to that channel. The bowl, the bell, the chime, the breath altering synthesizer are my entryways in. And in that space I empty my mind, become conscious of my body and breath, to fully inhabit the present moment. To paraphrase our Big Idea SOAR, the artists of those digital shows facilitate entry into the transcendent realm, one that acknowledges the human need for meaning.
Jem Finer's Longplayer is a composition that is intended to play for one thousand years. On Oct 16th, we are proud to co-present our collaboration with Long Now Foundation on a 16-hour excerpt presentation of Jem Finer's, Longplayer Live. Come, slow your breath here. And when you need a change, head across the street to the Contemporary Jewish Museum and engage in a Long Conversation, a marathon series of interlapping conversations with today's thought leaders. Mind and the immaterial. On October 16th.
Artist Bio
About the Long Now Foundation
The Long Now Foundation was established in 1996 to develop the Clock and Library projects, as well as to become the seed of a very long-term cultural institution. The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide counterpoint to today's "faster/cheaper" mind set and promote "slower/better" thinking. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.
YBCA's programs are made possible in part by:
The San Francisco Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Koret Foundation
Adobe Foundation Fund
Novellus
YBCA Performance 10–11 is made possible in part by:
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Additional Funding for YBCA Performance 10–11:
Zellerbach Family Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and Members of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
This program is produced in partnership with The Long Now Foundation, Sosolimited, the Contemporary Jewish Museum and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and through the generous support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
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