Long Afternoon with Iain Sinclair, Sunday 28th April
On Sunday 28th April, Longplayer invites you to spend a Long Afternoon in the lighthouse with Iain Sinclair. The lighthouse will be open to visitors, with a young persons activity table, from 1:30-3pm, and Iain Sinclair’s talk, ‘Gifts of the River Returning’ will take place at 3:30pm. Iain’s talk will reflect on the legacies of work undertaken in the area, and his nocturnal vigil at the lighthouse earlier in the month.
Iain Sinclair: GIFTS OF THE RIVER RETURNING, 3.30pm
Trinity Buoy Wharf, that enigmatic marker at Bow Creek, where Lea flows into Thames, has been a site of endless fascination for Iain Sinclair. A resting place on downriver walks. There is so much to absorb. The working history of the inland tower where potential Keepers of Light were trained. The industrial traces of the riverbank with its hard-generated wealth, its disasters and drownings. The whale oil magnates. The deepwater docks of East India Company armadas. And, more evident now, recent interventions by developers, visionary artists, and alchemical musicians converting sound into beams of river-spanning light.
By coming back to spend a night inside the locked lighthouse, Iain wanted to bring all those strands into play. And to remember the pioneering work made here, through occupation and resistance, by Brian Catling. But, above everything, this nocturnal vigil was about experiencing Jem Finer’s Longplayer from inside. A sonar oracle programmed to sound and reverberate beyond several foreseeable lifetimes.
What are the Long Afternoons?
The Long Afternoons are open, social events hosted by the Longplayer Trust. We invite you to join us in the lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf and listen to Longplayer resonate through the space.All ages are welcome – there will be facilitator available for young people.
What is Longplayer?
Longplayer is an everlasting musical composition, repeating once every 1000 years. 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. Conceived and composed by Jem Finer, it was originally produced as an Artangel commission, and is now in the care of the Longplayer Trust.
Longplayer can be heard in the lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, where it has been playing since it began. It can also be heard at several other listening posts around the world, globally via a live stream on the Internet, through an iOS app and occasional live performances.
Access
Please note there is limited access to the first floor and lantern room of the lighthouse, via very narrow stairs.
Toilets are available onsite at Trinity Buoy Wharf.
