By A Long Chalk
By A Long Chalk is a guided walk originally written to accompany and celebrate a live performance of Longplayer at the Roundhouse (see right). The circular walk starts and ends at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm.
Robert has been interested in the Long Now Foundation since discovering the works of Stewart Brand in the 01990s. By A Long Chalk is an exploration of the environs and history of Chalk Farm and Primrose Hill, through the lens of ‘pace layers’, Brand’s model for the ever-interacting layers of civilisation. It is a way of hearing the signal amidst the noise of London: and in this small quarter, making sense of steam trains and secret vaults, geology and gin, duels and druids, tunnels, taverns and towpaths.
You can watch Robert’s ‘Primrose Hill’ episode of Pagan London, and the whole series here.
The walk was originally performed in collaboration with Long Term Art Projects and Long Now London, a community of practice for long-term thinking.
Longplayer is a 1,000-year-long piece of music that has been playing continuously since the first moments of this millennium and is composed to continue until the final moments of the next. It is akin to what its composer, Jem Finer, calls a ‘vast, Bronze Age synthesiser’.
We are proud to sponsor Longplayer through its initiative of ‘buying time’: we have sponsored 7 July, Minimum Labyrinth’s birthday. Ticket sales from By A Long Chalk will go towards funding this long-term art project, as well as future Long Now London events. Buying a ticket helps us build the ecosystem for this community of practice and thinking.
What’s with all these five-digit dates? These are a nod to one of the delightful stylistic devices of the Long Now Foundation, which aims to reframe what people consider as ‘Now’. The extra digit is to solve for the decamillenium bug, and as a small reminder to think on different scales. The Long Now Foundation was established in 01996 in San Francisco to become the seed of a very long-term cultural institution.