Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
How does this exhibition tell the story of one of Britain’s most influential rock bands?
Music has the ability to stir the senses and play with emotion. It can take the form of a light love song at one end of the spectrum and a full-blooded operatic assault by Wagner at the other.
When the band Pink Floyd emerged in the mid-1960s, it was a time of experimentation, with the Beatles taking popular music into a new dimension and the Rolling Stones unearthing a powerful form of rhythm and blues.
Pink Floyd brought innovation to performance, taking advantage of new technology with a creative approach to sound and light.
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has attempted to recreate this in the exhibition Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains (until 1 October).
Their music – called “progressive” rock because of its untraditional quality using traditional rock instruments – built up strong sounds, haunting harmonies punctuated with unusual noises. Pink Floyd seemed to capture people’s imagination and their albums attracted a huge following.
How much of this does the V&A’s exhibition convey? Unfortunately, it starts with a rather dull reconstruction of the band’s Bedford van in 1965 and a letter from founder member Syd Barrett to his girlfriend in the same year. While this serves to emphasise their low-key beginnings, it fails to raise the spirits.
This is followed by a homage to 1960s psychedelia with its swirling patterns – it is here that visitors first come across an old telephone box, one of many that serve as a time reference.
They are filled with magazine and newspaper cuttings that show the events of the time. Like much of the exhibition, this is a clever idea and helps to contextualise Pink Floyd.
Even for fans of their music (I am one) there is a lot to take in – I was particularly interested in learning about the contribution by people such as graphic designer Storm Thorgerson on cover design and architect Mark Fisher on the architectural installations.
The show reveals Thorgerson as a difficult but creative spirit who happened to be in the right place at the right time to contribute to the band’s success. Thorgerson and Fisher, with his architect collaborator Jonathan Park, both brought life and innovation to Pink Floyd’s performances around the world. The architectural sets they created fitted well with the musical ideas of band members Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright.
I was struck to find that the band only really hit the headlines when the famous inflatable pig used on the Animals album cover broke away from its tether on the Battersea Power Station chimney, causing huge airline cancellations.
The anecdote is recounted by Thorgerson and designer Aubrey Powell in video interviews.
The pig, incidentally, ended up deflated in a field in Kent. This fiasco and the story of the chaos caused by 200,000 fans at the Venice concert in July 1989 are well covered, the latter also with video interviews, and posters advertising the gig.
There were plans for the band to perform on a huge floating platform on the lagoon in front of St Mark’s Square, in Venice. Unfortunately, the city’s municipal officials didn’t know how to deal with the large number of fans and tried to close down cafes, bars and restaurants as well as send boats out to block views of the platform.
The concert, however, was a great experience for those who attended. Pink Floyd ended their set with Run Like Hell, before floating their platform off into the lagoon.
Setting the stage
The V&A has assembled extensive archive material on each of Pink Floyd’s albums and their contributors, and amassed lots of visual material related to their performances.
This provides the opportunity for giant mock-ups of Battersea Power Station, with its floating pig for the launch of the Animals record, the sinister characters drawn by Gerald Scarfe for the album The Wall, and the powerful iron-man like sculptures of The Division Bell.
Essentially there is a room devoted to each record, but their most famous album, The Dark Side of the Moon, is treated somewhat differently. In a blacked out immersive space the V&A has created a hologram of the iconic rainbow prismatic graphics featured on the album cover.
The display is atmospheric and acquires some of the alluring qualities of one of American artist James Turrell’s light installations. All these album cover recreations are impressive in scale and visually exciting. There are extracts of film and interviews with contributors, including Scarfe, which add a lot to the contextual displays of collateral material.
All the displays in the exhibition, particularly those related to individual albums, are greatly enhanced by the sophisticated headphone sound system that automatically tunes into the album you are close to at the time. This is a wonderful use of technology that enables you to carry the music along while you digest the huge amount of material in front of you.
This audio element is further enhanced by an extraordinary immersive sound extravaganza by the German audio specialists, Sennheiser, which acts as a finale to the exhibition.
Described as an AMBEO 3D installation, it involves the latest technology, developed especially for this show. A recording of Pink Floyd performing their song Comfortably Numb (from The Wall) in 2005 at the Live8 performance in Hyde Park London has been recreated using 25 speakers at three different levels. Simulating a live gig, it is as if you were on stage with the band – if you move closer to one side, it feels as if Roger Waters is singing next to you.
With accompanying video, this sophisticated installation recreates the incredible depth and clarity of the sound, as well as visual elements that really make up Pink Floyd’s DNA.
A great gig?
On the whole, the exhibition is comprehensive. But I did feel something was lacking. Apart from some exceptions, it all seems rather static and misses the creative excitement of the concerts. Having seen Pink Floyd live many times, I know how innovative and uplifting their gigs were, so much so that I would have liked the exhibition designers to have found a way of conveying more of that atmosphere.
Nevertheless, there is a lot that’s revealed in Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains, and the V&A has worked with many people who were integral to the band’s creative legacy. The exhibition was led by Pink Floyd’s creative director, Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell of the design company Hipgnosis, and Michael Cohl’s Iconic Entertainment Studios who did the promotion and regularly oversaw Pink Floyd’s tours.
The V&A curatorial team, led by Victoria Broackes and Paula Webb Stainton, worked in close consultation with Waters, Gilmour, Mason, and the estate of Wright on the content. And Stufish, long-time stage designers for Pink Floyd, designed the show. These collaborations show in the final result in terms of the wealth of the material on display and the form of it being so true to the band’s original ideals.
Although the exhibition lacks a performative aspect, I can thoroughly recommend a visit to the V&A whether you are a fan or not, simply because this show provides a superb insight into a band that transformed the horizons of modern music.
Chris Wilkinson is a co-founder of WilkinsonEyre Architects, and is working on the renovation of Battersea Power Station in London
Cost Undisclosed
Main funder Iconic Entertainment Studios
Creative direction Aubrey Powell Exhibition design Ray Winkler for Stufish
Layout Real Studios Interpretation Aubrey Powell; Paula Stainton
Graphic design Peter Curzon and Aubrey Powell, with Real Studios Rigging Blackout
Audio Sennheiser; Auditoria Installation Live Gallery Media Events Display cases Set Square; designed by Stufish
Lasers ER lasers
Audiovisuals Media Powerhouse Performance Zone Lucky Frog
Lighting White Light; Woodroffe Basett
Exhibition ends 1 October
Admission Museums Association members free
When the band Pink Floyd emerged in the mid-1960s, it was a time of experimentation, with the Beatles taking popular music into a new dimension and the Rolling Stones unearthing a powerful form of rhythm and blues.
Pink Floyd brought innovation to performance, taking advantage of new technology with a creative approach to sound and light.
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has attempted to recreate this in the exhibition Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains (until 1 October).
Their music – called “progressive” rock because of its untraditional quality using traditional rock instruments – built up strong sounds, haunting harmonies punctuated with unusual noises. Pink Floyd seemed to capture people’s imagination and their albums attracted a huge following.
How much of this does the V&A’s exhibition convey? Unfortunately, it starts with a rather dull reconstruction of the band’s Bedford van in 1965 and a letter from founder member Syd Barrett to his girlfriend in the same year. While this serves to emphasise their low-key beginnings, it fails to raise the spirits.
This is followed by a homage to 1960s psychedelia with its swirling patterns – it is here that visitors first come across an old telephone box, one of many that serve as a time reference.
They are filled with magazine and newspaper cuttings that show the events of the time. Like much of the exhibition, this is a clever idea and helps to contextualise Pink Floyd.
Even for fans of their music (I am one) there is a lot to take in – I was particularly interested in learning about the contribution by people such as graphic designer Storm Thorgerson on cover design and architect Mark Fisher on the architectural installations.
The show reveals Thorgerson as a difficult but creative spirit who happened to be in the right place at the right time to contribute to the band’s success. Thorgerson and Fisher, with his architect collaborator Jonathan Park, both brought life and innovation to Pink Floyd’s performances around the world. The architectural sets they created fitted well with the musical ideas of band members Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright.
I was struck to find that the band only really hit the headlines when the famous inflatable pig used on the Animals album cover broke away from its tether on the Battersea Power Station chimney, causing huge airline cancellations.
The anecdote is recounted by Thorgerson and designer Aubrey Powell in video interviews.
The pig, incidentally, ended up deflated in a field in Kent. This fiasco and the story of the chaos caused by 200,000 fans at the Venice concert in July 1989 are well covered, the latter also with video interviews, and posters advertising the gig.
There were plans for the band to perform on a huge floating platform on the lagoon in front of St Mark’s Square, in Venice. Unfortunately, the city’s municipal officials didn’t know how to deal with the large number of fans and tried to close down cafes, bars and restaurants as well as send boats out to block views of the platform.
The concert, however, was a great experience for those who attended. Pink Floyd ended their set with Run Like Hell, before floating their platform off into the lagoon.
Setting the stage
The V&A has assembled extensive archive material on each of Pink Floyd’s albums and their contributors, and amassed lots of visual material related to their performances.
This provides the opportunity for giant mock-ups of Battersea Power Station, with its floating pig for the launch of the Animals record, the sinister characters drawn by Gerald Scarfe for the album The Wall, and the powerful iron-man like sculptures of The Division Bell.
Essentially there is a room devoted to each record, but their most famous album, The Dark Side of the Moon, is treated somewhat differently. In a blacked out immersive space the V&A has created a hologram of the iconic rainbow prismatic graphics featured on the album cover.
The display is atmospheric and acquires some of the alluring qualities of one of American artist James Turrell’s light installations. All these album cover recreations are impressive in scale and visually exciting. There are extracts of film and interviews with contributors, including Scarfe, which add a lot to the contextual displays of collateral material.
All the displays in the exhibition, particularly those related to individual albums, are greatly enhanced by the sophisticated headphone sound system that automatically tunes into the album you are close to at the time. This is a wonderful use of technology that enables you to carry the music along while you digest the huge amount of material in front of you.
This audio element is further enhanced by an extraordinary immersive sound extravaganza by the German audio specialists, Sennheiser, which acts as a finale to the exhibition.
Described as an AMBEO 3D installation, it involves the latest technology, developed especially for this show. A recording of Pink Floyd performing their song Comfortably Numb (from The Wall) in 2005 at the Live8 performance in Hyde Park London has been recreated using 25 speakers at three different levels. Simulating a live gig, it is as if you were on stage with the band – if you move closer to one side, it feels as if Roger Waters is singing next to you.
With accompanying video, this sophisticated installation recreates the incredible depth and clarity of the sound, as well as visual elements that really make up Pink Floyd’s DNA.
A great gig?
On the whole, the exhibition is comprehensive. But I did feel something was lacking. Apart from some exceptions, it all seems rather static and misses the creative excitement of the concerts. Having seen Pink Floyd live many times, I know how innovative and uplifting their gigs were, so much so that I would have liked the exhibition designers to have found a way of conveying more of that atmosphere.
Nevertheless, there is a lot that’s revealed in Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains, and the V&A has worked with many people who were integral to the band’s creative legacy. The exhibition was led by Pink Floyd’s creative director, Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell of the design company Hipgnosis, and Michael Cohl’s Iconic Entertainment Studios who did the promotion and regularly oversaw Pink Floyd’s tours.
The V&A curatorial team, led by Victoria Broackes and Paula Webb Stainton, worked in close consultation with Waters, Gilmour, Mason, and the estate of Wright on the content. And Stufish, long-time stage designers for Pink Floyd, designed the show. These collaborations show in the final result in terms of the wealth of the material on display and the form of it being so true to the band’s original ideals.
Although the exhibition lacks a performative aspect, I can thoroughly recommend a visit to the V&A whether you are a fan or not, simply because this show provides a superb insight into a band that transformed the horizons of modern music.
Chris Wilkinson is a co-founder of WilkinsonEyre Architects, and is working on the renovation of Battersea Power Station in London
Project data
Cost Undisclosed
Main funder Iconic Entertainment Studios
Creative direction Aubrey Powell Exhibition design Ray Winkler for Stufish
Layout Real Studios Interpretation Aubrey Powell; Paula Stainton
Graphic design Peter Curzon and Aubrey Powell, with Real Studios Rigging Blackout
Audio Sennheiser; Auditoria Installation Live Gallery Media Events Display cases Set Square; designed by Stufish
Lasers ER lasers
Audiovisuals Media Powerhouse Performance Zone Lucky Frog
Lighting White Light; Woodroffe Basett
Exhibition ends 1 October
Admission Museums Association members free