Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains
Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains is an exhibition on the history of the British rock band Pink Floyd, opening on 13 May 2017 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, and originally scheduled to run until 1 October. After high visitor numbers, the exhibition's run was extended by two weeks, to 15 October 2017. It followed the V&As successful David Bowie Is exhibition.
The exhibition's title reflects the lyric "I've got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains", from the song "Nobody Home", on The Wall. It was promoted with media appearances by all three surviving band members, and designer Aubrey Powell; as well as the flying of an inflatable pig over the V&A, and at the BBC's Broadcasting House.
Treating the band's history in chronological order, the exhibition ends with their 2005 reunion at Live 8, with footage of the band performing "Comfortably Numb", using specially-remixed audio, delivered via AMBEO, a Sennheiser 3D audio technology, over 17 channels and 25 speakers, seven of which are subwoofers.
', the opening number of The Wall concerts, in order to fool audiences into thinking the surrogate was Wright
Objects shown include documents such as a page from Nick Mason’s diary for 1968 and a 1975 tour rider, a "flower petal" shaped mirrorball used from 1973 to 1975, instruments, plus equipment including the Azimuth Co-ordinator and the band's Binson Echorec Baby effects unit. There are several props from the 1980 and 1981 The Wall concerts, including the face masks worn by members of the 'surrogate band', to make them look like Pink Floyd. Also on show are a hand-written letter from Syd Barrett to Jenny Spires, his then girlfriend; and his bicycle.
The organisers plan to tour the exhibition internationally, for up to ten years. In November 2017, it was announced that the second venue would be Rome, Italy, opening on 19 January 2018.
Venues
Opening Date | Closing Date | Duration | City | Country | Venue |
13 May 2017 | 15 October 2017 | 155 | London | United Kingdom | Victoria and Albert Museum |
19 January 2018 | 27 May 2018 | 127 | Rome | Italy | Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome |
15 September 2018 | 10 February 2019 | 148 | Dortmund | Germany | Dortmunder U |
10 May 2019 | 27 October 2019 | 170 | Madrid | Spain | IFEMA Espacio 5.1 |