''As Long As Possible (ASLAP)'' (2015–2017) is a 1,000-year long

animated GIF The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , ) is a Raster graphics, bitmap Image file formats, image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released ...

made by Finnish artist Juha van Ingen. 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. The "As Long As Possible" (ASLAP) GIF started playing in 2017 and is designed to run for 1,000 years, ending in 3017. It has a total of 48,140,288 frames. As of 2025, 8 years have passed since the GIF began (2025 - 2017 = 8 years). To calculate the current frame, we can use the following: Frames per year = Total frames / Total years = 48,140,288 / 1000 = 48,140.288 frames/year Current frame = Years passed \times Frames per year Current frame = 8 \times 48,140.288 = 385,122.304 Therefore, the GIF is approximately at frame 385,122.

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 William Rodney Graham (January 16, 1949 – October 22, 2022) was a Canadian visual artist and musician. He was closely associated with the Vancouver School. Early life Graham was born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on January 16, 1949. ...

's ''Parsifal (1882—38,969,364,735)'', which was based on an addition to

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...

'' by Engelbert Humperdinck during the first performance thereof. 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 The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

. * ''

Longplayer ''Longplayer'' is a musical composition made by British composer and musician Jem Finer which is composed to play for 1,000 years without looping. It started to play at midnight on 1 January 2000, and if all goes as planned, it will continue w ...

'' by

Jem Finer Jeremy Max Finer (born 25 July 1955) is an English musician, artist and composer. He is one of the founding members of the Pogues. Early life Finer was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, the son of political scientist Samuel Finer, and the nephew ...

(of

the Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...

) sounding from the Trinity Buoy lighthouse near

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. * The yet to be realised 10,000-year

Clock of the Long Now The Clock of the Long Now, also called the 10,000-year clock, is a mechanical clock under construction that is designed to keep time for 10,000 years. It is being built by the Long Now Foundation. A two-meter prototype is on display at the Sci ...

by the

Long Now Foundation The Long Now Foundation, established in 1996, is an American non-profit organization based in San Francisco that seeks to start and promote a long-term cultural institution. It aims to provide a counterpoint to what it views as today's "faster ...

in USA.

''As Long As Possible (ASLAP)''

The work is developed as a

GIF The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , ) is a Raster graphics, bitmap Image file formats, image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released ...

animation, with each frame lasting 655,090 milliseconds, which is approximately 10.92 minutes. The total number of frames is 48,140,288 making the duration of the animation 1000 years. 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. The animation was developed in 2015, and premiered at

Kiasma Kiasma is a contemporary art museum located on Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, Finland. Its name ''kiasma'', Finnish for chiasma, alludes to the basic conceptual idea of its architect, Steven Holl. Kiasma is part of the Finnish National Gallery, an ...

Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki in 2017, coinciding with the 30 year anniversary of the

format. ''ASLAP'' was presented in the context of ARS 17: "Hello World", a major exhibition of international

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

on the theme of postinternet art. The name of ''ASLAP'' is homage to the musical composition ORGAN²/ASLSP (1987) by

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

which is currently played on the church organ of St. Burchardi church in

Halberstadt Halberstadt (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany, the capital of Harz (district), Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

since its premiere in 2001, and will continue to play for the next 639 years. 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.

Maintenance of the artwork

The ''ASLAP'' file is cloned and it will simultaneously run on six physical playback units at different geographical locations. 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 A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ...

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. The first ''ASLAP'' play back unit is included in the collection of The

Finnish National Gallery Finnish National Gallery (, ) is the largest art museum institution of Finland. It consists of the Ateneum, an art museum; Kiasma, a contemporary art museum; and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, a historic house and art museum. The organization's ...

and is playing and stored in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. The Finnish National Gallery has agreed to keep the animation playing until 3017. The first time capsule was deposited 18 March 2017 into the Kumu

Art Museum of Estonia The Art Museum of Estonia () was established in 1919. Originally based in Kadriorg Palace, the museum has expanded across several sites and today exhibits both international and local art works. At the end of the 1970s, in the 1980s the first br ...

collection and is permanently stored in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Presentation of'' ASLAP'' in ARS17

Apart from the projected image of the'' ASLAP'' animation, the art work as presented by

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.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

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