Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains is a touring exhibition of the history of the English rock band Pink Floyd, which opened on 13 May 2017 (with a museum members' preview on 12 May) at the Victoria and Albert Museum 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.
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", on The Wall. It was promoted with media appearances by all three surviving band members (David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Roger Waters), and designer Aubrey Powell; as well as the flying of an inflatable pig over the V&A, and at the BBC's Broadcasting House.
Content Treating the band's history in chronological order, the exhibition ends with their 2005 reunion at Live 8, with footage of the band performing "Comfortably Numb", using specially-remixed audio, delivered via AMBEO, a Sennheiser 3D audio technology, over 17 channels and 25 speakers, seven of which are subwoofers.
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 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 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, 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 3 September 2021 instead. In October 2022, it was announced that the exhibition would be shown in Montreal, Canada, from 4 November 2022, to 31 December 2022. It would be extended three times to close 2 April 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
Opening DateClosing DateDuration (days)CityCountryVenue 13 May 2017 15 October 2017 155 London United Kingdom Victoria and Albert Museum 19 January 2018 27 May 2018 127 Rome Italy Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome 15 September 2018 10 February 2019 148 Dortmund Germany Dortmunder U 10 May 2019 27 October 2019 170 Madrid Spain IFEMA Espacio 5.1 3 September 2021 9 January 2022 131 Los Angeles United States Vogue Multicultural Museum4 November 20222 April 2023123MontrealCanada 16 June 2023 1 October 2023 107 Toronto Canada Better Living Centre 10 September 2024 17 November 2024 68 Buenos Aires Argentina Pabellón Frers – La Rural
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