theLongLine online

theLongLine. theViewergallery. 2011-2013
15 minutes

theLongLine is also on YouTube: youtube theViewergallery theLongLine

(Sadly, each time I update theLongLine on YouTube, the previous link is replaced)

I have animated theLongLine and add each batch when there is another event.
Many more to follow in time........

Music to accompany theLongLine: Left Bank Two, by Wayne Hill, played by the Noveltones, 1963, otherwise known to generations of British children as the Gallery theme to the TV programmes "Vision On" and "Smart."

I have currently not attached the music so as not to infringe copyright, but here is a legitimate link:

bbc.co.uk left bank two

theLongLine

The Polyorama is an eighteenth century idea, a never-ending, ever-changing continuous landscape, made up of multiple drawings.  As long as the horizon lines match up, the landscape can be rearranged endlessly. It’s a panoramic view of an imagined world, where ancient ruins can sit next to space ships, dreamy scenes or infested waters.

theLongLine invites participants to create a continuous landscape, matching three elements – Sky, Land and Sea. Whose drawing will yours sit next to – a famous artist, a child who will grow up to be a famous artist, someone from the other side of the world, a visionary, a scribbler?

theLongLine has ambitions to become a very Long Line. Started in 2011, when the world record for the longest drawing in the world stands at 9,154m (India, 2009), theLongLine will take its time, appear and reappear, tour and pop up occasionally, all the while adding to its length, its store of ideas and contributions. It all starts with one line. Where will it travel, where will your part of theLongLine be shown. How long will it all keep going?

Who is the artist of theLongLine – is it the artist who thought up the idea, the unnamed person who invented the form, all those who actually do the drawing, or whoever arranges how they are shown? Just 10 different sections of theLongLine could make 3,628,800 different landscape variations – I read this, but I still can’t believe it! Out of all those multiples of choices, how does one piece end up next to another – and will they ever meet again?