As Long as Possible

AS Long As Possible (ASLAP) (2015–2017) is a 1,000-year long animated GIF made by Finnish artist Juha van Ingen.[1] It premiered at Kiasma National Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki on 28 March 2017. The animation is created in collaboration with developer and sound artist Janne Särkelä.[2]

This article is about the GIF. For the musical composition of a similar name, see As Slow as Possible.
Juha van Ingen, AS Long As Possible, first frame playing documented in KIASMA Helsinki 2017

Background

ASLAP belongs to a group of art works for which extreme duration is an essential part of the concept, such as Canadian artist Rodney Graham's Parsifal (1882—38,969,364,735), which was based on an addition to Richard Wagner's Parsifal by Engelbert Humperdinck during the first performance thereof.[3][4][5] It was initiated in 1990 and in theory is playing for another 39 billion years – three times longer than the estimated age of the Universe.[3][4][5] Other well known examples are Longplayer by Jem Finer (of the Pogues) sounding from the Trinity Buoy lighthouse near Canary Wharf in London and the yet to be realised 10,000-year Clock of the Long Now by the Long Now Foundation in USA.[3]

AS Long As Possible (ASLAP)

The work is developed as a GIF animation, with each frame lasting 655,090 milliseconds, which is approximately 10.92 minutes. The total number of frames is 48,140,288[6] making the duration of the animation 1000 years.[7] The GIF file contains a loop function which will automatically, after the last frame has played, start the animation all over. ASLAP is intended to continue to play forever.[8]

The animation was developed in 2015, and premiered at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki in 2017, coinciding with the 30 year anniversary of the GIF format.[2] ASLAP was presented in the context of ARS 17: "Hello World", a major exhibition of international contemporary art on the theme of postinternet art.[3]

The name of ASLAP is homage to the musical composition ORGAN²/ASLSP (1987) by John Cage which is currently played on the church organ of St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt in Germany since its premiere in 2001, and will continue to play for the next 639 years.[9][10] The abbreviation of Cage's composition includes an instruction to the performer of the piece on how to perform the work: As SLow As Possible.[11]

Maintenance of the artwork

The ASLAP file is cloned and it will simultaneously run on six physical playback units at different geographical locations.[12] When one unit is destroyed for any reason, or when it needs to be technically upgraded, a new physical unit is built and the animation file is cloned and synchronised with the remaining units. If all of the playback units are destroyed the file is to be reconstructed from special time capsules that contain the description of the artwork, the specifications of the GIF format, the original GIF file and necessary documents including a printed copy of the code for generating a new file.[12]

The first ASLAP play back unit is included in the collection of The Finnish National Gallery and is playing and stored in Helsinki. The Finnish National Gallery has agreed to keep the animation playing until 3017.[12]

The first time capsule was deposited 18 March 2017 into the Kumu Art Museum of Estonia collection and is permanently stored in Tallinn, Estonia.[11][12]

Presentation of ASLAP in ARS17

Apart from the projected image of the ASLAP animation, the art work as presented by Kiasma included a player programmed by Jani Lindqvist, a computer, and a stainless steel box to protect the file and equipment through its life time. The installation also contained three digital prints of ASLAP frames and the printed binary code of the ASLAP GIF file, frames 1–40100.[11]

References
  1. "Finnish Artists Create 1000-year-long GIF Titled As Long As Possible". September 26, 2015. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  2. "Conductors of Colour. Music, Modesty and Modernity". Art Museum of Estonia. Archived from the original on April 15, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  3. Hello world! Art After the Internet. Helsinki: Kansalisgalleria – Finnish National Gallery, A Museum of Contemporary Art Publication. 2017. pp. 96–99. ISBN 978-9527067420. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  4. "'Parsifal (1882 – 38,969,364,735)', Rodney Graham, 1990". Tate. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  5. Spencer, Stewart (2000). Wagner Remembered. London: Faber and Faber. p. 268 ff. ISBN 0-571-19653-5.
  6. Bishop, Rollin (September 9, 2015). "There Is Now a GIF Will Take 1,000 Years to Loop Once". Popularmechanics.com. Archived from the original on October 9, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  7. "Juha van Ingen: ASLAP (AS Long As Possible)". Kiasma. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  8. Voon, Claire (September 21, 2015). "The 1,000-Year GIF". Hyperallergic Media Inc. Archived from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  9. Pangburn, D. J. (2015-09-28). "'As Long As Possible' GIF Set to Last 1,000 Years". Vice. Archived from the original on 2019-12-23. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  10. Brownlee, John (2015-09-24). "Yes, This GIF Takes 1,000 Years To Loop". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 2019-12-23. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  11. "As Long As Possible". Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  12. Maack, Már Másson (April 12, 2017). "Finnish Museum Commits to Playing a 1,000 Year Long GIF to the Bitter End". Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
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