Open every Saturday and Sunday: April to September 11am- 5pm, October to March 11am- 4pm
Longplayer is a one thousand year long musical composition. 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, where it has been playing since it began. It can also be heard at several other listening posts around the world, and globally via a live stream online here.
Longplayer is composed for singing bowls – an ancient type of standing bell – which can be played by both humans and machines, and whose resonances can be very accurately reproduced in recorded form. It is designed to be adaptable to unforeseeable changes in its technological and social environments, and to endure in the long-term as a self-sustaining institution.
Please note there's no step free access to to the Lighthouse where the Longplayer is located. The staircase leading up to the top of the Lighthouse is narrow, fairly steep and allows for maximum of 6 visitors at one time. Please note you can listen to the Longplayer online here.