The Artangel Longplayer Conversations
Each year, as a way of celebrating the vision behind Longplayer’s long term aspirations, Artangel invites a leading cultural thinker to conduct a public conversation with someone they have never met, and to engage in a discussion inspired by the philosophical premise of a project which unfolds, in real time, over the course of a millennium.
The first invitation, marking Longplayer’s fifth anniversary in 2005, was to the American artist Laurie Anderson, who chose the novelist Doris Lessing for a conversation which took place at The Royal Institution.
In 2007, Canadian designer Bruce Mau sat down with architect David Adjaye for a dialogue at the Royal London Hospital’s Institute of Cell and Molecular Science.
On the 12th September 2008, philosopher and broadcaster Alain de Botton was in conversation with George Soros.
The Artangel Longplayer Conversation 2008
with Alain De Botton and George Soros
12th September 2008 at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR
Alain De Botton was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969 and now lives in London. His writings - including How Proust Can Change your Life, Status Anxiety and The Architecture of Happiness - refer both to his own experiences and ideas and those of particular artists, philosophers and thinkers. His style of writing has been termed a ‘philosophy of everyday life’, and several of his books have been serialised as documentaries for broadcast television.
George Soros is best known as a successful stock investor and financial speculator. Born in Budapest in 1930, he survived the Nazi occupation and fled communist Hungary in 1947 for England, where he graduated from the London School of Economics. In the USA, he is known for having donated large sums of money in a failed effort to defeat President George W. Bush’s bid for re-election in 2004, and for establishing major philanthropic endeavours promoting the values of democracy and an open society. He famously “broke the Bank of England” on Black Wednesday in 1992 when he sold short more than $10 billion worth of pounds, profiting from the Bank of England’s reluctance to either raise its interest rates to levels comparable to those of other European Exchange Rate Mechanism countries or to float its currency.
There is a short film on The Guardian's website.Download an audio excerpt: [artangelconversation2008.mp3]
Or listen to it here:
The Artangel Longplayer Conversation 2007
with Bruce Mau and David Adjaye
Tuesday 13 February 2007, the Royal London Hospital, London
“As Longplayer enters its seventh year, Artangel has invited Canadian designer Bruce Mau to speak to British architect David Adjaye about the challenges faced by designers and architects in the 21st century. Inspired by the Longplayer project, they'll be discussing philosophy, time, art and inspiration, the dilemmas of longevity, sustainability and their own projects from Guatemala to Tower Hamlets.”
Download an audio excerpt: [artangelconversation2007.mp3]
Or listen to it here:
The Artangel Longplayer Conversation 2005
with Laurie Anderson and Doris Lessing
Thursday 26 May 2005, the Royal Institution, London
“The first Conversation, in association with the Royal Institution, brings together the imagination and experience of multi-media artist Laurie Anderson and the writer and novelist Doris Lessing to discuss the art and science of keeping time and to consider long-term thoughts and strategies. Is time running out? And what do we mean by timelessness?”
Download an audio excerpt: [artangelconversation2005.mp3]
Or listen to it here: