ROGER WATERS AND NICK MASON MAKE RARE PUBLIC APPEARANCE TOGETHER AHEAD OF THE OPENING OF PINK FLOYD EXHIBITION
The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains
Presented by the V&A and Michael Cohl’s Iconic Entertainment Studios
13 May – 1 October 2017
Tickets on sale NOW
Sound Experience by Sennheiser
www.pinkfloydexhibition.com | vam.ac.uk/pink-floyd | #TheirMortalRemains
On Thursday 16 February, Pink Floyd’s founder members Roger Waters and Nick Mason made a rare public appearance together at London’s May Fair Hotel at a media briefing and Q&A session for The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains. The two old friends discussed for the first time the immersive experiential journey through Pink Floyd’s world, from high tech audio visual events, objects, surreal landscapes, and the culture explosions that evolve throughout the exhibition, which opens on 13 May at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Tickets for the exhibition, promoted by Michael Cohl and Iconic Entertainment Studios, are on sale now via the V&A and other ticketing partners.
Roger Waters, Pink Floyd’s bass guitarist and singer songwriter, and drummer Nick Mason met as students at London’s Regent Street Polytechnic in the early 1960s, studying architecture. The pair, together with keyboard player Richard Wright and Syd Barrett, formed the group that eventually became Pink Floyd. Syd was replaced in 1968 by fellow guitarist, vocalist and songwriter David Gilmour.
The Victoria and Albert Museum will host The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains between 13 May and 1 October 2017. This major international Pink Floyd retrospective marks the 50th anniversary of the band’s first album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and debut single, Arnold Layne.
The Pink Floyd Exhibition is created, with the V&A in partnership with Michael Cohl and Iconic Entertainment Studios, by Pink Floyd’s creative director Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell (formerly of the design partnership Hipgnosis) and Paula Webb Stainton, who worked closely with members of Pink Floyd. The V&A curatorial team is led by Victoria Broackes, Senior Curator, with Anna Landreth Strong, Curator, Department of Theatre and Performance. The exhibition is a collaboration with designers Stufish, the leading entertainment architects and the band’s long-serving stage designers.
The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains is anchored by a chronological trip through Pink Floyd’s history, connecting with music, art and design, sound technology and live performance: from their beginnings on the underground club scene in 1960s London to the present day, via landmark albums such as The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall and The Division Bell, and their accompanying imagery, stage shows, design and technology.
Every chapter of the Pink Floyd story is represented, with more than 350 objects and artefacts on display, many of them never before seen, including hand-written lyrics, musical instruments, letters, original artwork and stage props, accompanied by objects from the V&A’s collection of art, design and performance. Some of these items had been long-held in storage facilities, studios and personal collections for over 40 years, before being re-discovered.
The entry point into The Pink Floyd Exhibition is a replica of the Bedford van Pink Floyd used as their touring vehicle in the mid-1960s. From this first moment, the visitor is immersed in Pink Floyd’s world. Emerging from the vehicle, they will find themselves transported to Swinging London and the UFO club, the home of the capital’s psychedelic music scene, where Pink Floyd became the unofficial ‘house band’ during the early part of 1967. This exhibit includes atmospheric oil and light show projections created by Pink Floyd’s 1960s-era lighting designer, Peter Wynne Willson, which, together with the accompanying soundtrack, ensures a fully immersive experience.
Art and technology are also celebrated. Included is an original painting by Syd Barrett, who studied art in London and his hometown of Cambridge before becoming a full-time musician. Also featured is the Azimuth Co-Ordinator, from the V&A’s own collection, the custom-built device used by Richard Wright to pan the group’s live sound, via a joystick, around any given venue. The ground-breaking device played an integral part in Pink Floyd’s theatrical live performances at venues including the Royal Festival Hall and Royal Albert Hall in the late 1960s as well as being used in the recording of the clock montage for ‘Time’ on The Dark Side of the Moon.
