''Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains'' is a touring exhibition of the history of the English rock band

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

, which opened on 13 May 2017 (with a museum members' preview on 12 May) at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London, England, and was 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. Pink Floyd Their Mortal Remains - 2017-10-13 - Andy Mabbett - 60

Pink Floyd Their Mortal Remains - 2017-10-13 - Andy Mabbett - 60

Naming and marketing

The exhibition's title reflects the lyric "I've got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains", from the song "

Nobody Home "Nobody Home" is a song from the Pink Floyd album ''The Wall''. This song was one of several to be considered for the band's "best of" album, '' Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd''. Background "Nobody Home" was written late into the development of ' ...

", on ''

The Wall ''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/ EMI and Columbia/ CBS Records. It is a rock opera which explores Pink, a jaded rock star, as he constructs a psychologic ...

''. It was promoted with media appearances by all three surviving band members (

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

Nick Mason Nicholas Berkeley Mason (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member since the band's formation in 1965, and the only member to appear on every ...

, and

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

), and designer Aubrey Powell; as well as the flying of an inflatable pig over the V&A, and at the BBC's

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

Content

Treating the band's history in chronological order, the exhibition ends with their 2005 reunion at

Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005 ...

, with footage of the band performing "

Comfortably Numb "Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on their eleventh studio album, ''The Wall'' (1979). It was released as a Single (music), single in 1980, with "Hey You (Pink Floyd song), Hey You" as the A-side and B- ...

", using specially-remixed audio, delivered via AMBEO, a

Sennheiser Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG (, ) is a German audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Wedemark. Sennheiser specializes in equipment for both the consumer and professional audio markets, including microphones, headphones, and loudsp ...

3D audio technology, over 17 channels and 25 speakers, seven of which are

subwoofer A subwoofer (or sub) is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies, known as bass and sub-bass, that are lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range that is ...

s. 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 The Azimuth Co-ordinator was the first panning control for a quadraphonic sound system, at that time a new concept. Pink Floyd became the first band to use it in their early shows. The Azimuth Co-ordinator uses four rotary rheostats housed in a l ...

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 Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Until his departure in 1968, he was Pink Floyd's frontman and primary songwriter, ...

to Jenny Spires, his then girlfriend; and his bicycle.

Future touring

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 Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy, opening on 19 January 2018. The Los Angeles exhibition was originally scheduled to begin in August, 2021. It was delayed for 3 weeks due to global shipping delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The show opened on September 3, 2021 instead. In October 2022, it was announced that the exhibition would be shown in Montreal, Canada, from November 4, 2022, to December 31, 2022. It would be extended three times to close April 2, 2023.

Attendance

By late August 2017, the London exhibition had been seen by 300,000 visitors and was extended by two weeks to 15 October.Pink Floyd exhibition set to become V&A's most visited music show
''The Guardian''. 30 August 2017.

Venues

References

External links

* {{Pink Floyd May 2017 in the United Kingdom Exhibitions in the United Kingdom Museum events Victoria and Albert Museum Pink Floyd