Disused Hove Warehouse to Host Brighton Festival Events
A disused warehouse next to Hove train station will be the venue for several public events as part of Brighton Festival 2020. Property developers, Watkin Jones Group, have partnered with the Festival to provide the empty spaces which are due for demolition.
Brighton Festival is presenting three events on the site from 2 to 24 May 2020, including the world premiere of a large-scale digital installation, the UK premiere of an immersive theatre production and an outdoor interactive sculpture.
In The Sleeping Tree, visitors will enter one of the last great rainforests of Indonesia and follow a family of endangered Gibbons as they go through their daily rituals, returning to the same tree they have inhabited for generations. Created by UK interactive arts company Invisible Flock, the unique sensory installation fuses art, film and digital technology with the aim of highlighting urgent conservation issues. The company worked with rangers and primatologists in Sumatra to record the images and sounds of the jungle and the fascinating habitat of these endangered species.
In the adjacent space, Sollievo offers an intimate theatrical performance by acclaimed Italian artist Gabriella Salvaterra. 23 performers invite guests to travel through a tranquil candle-lit labyrinth and listen to stories, peek into boxes, sit at their dinner table and flutter through pages of books. The spine-tingling production is an enchanting and dream-like journey for just 40 audience members, with several performances throughout the evening.
Outside the warehouse, an ordinary looking car is parked on the forecourt, but on closer inspection viewers will see this is no ordinary vehicle. Featuring found objects from Brighton beach, toy sea creatures, sand and pebbles, Washed Up Car-go is an art installation with a difference. Using film and music, artist Chris Dobrowolski’s playfully thought-provoking sculpture raises awareness about plastic consumerism and the pollution of the world’s oceans.
The use of this industrial space as an art venue is an opportunity to bring events to unusual locations and communities beyond the city. Brighton Festival can also be found at Shoreham Port, where Ray Lee’s Points of Departure will dazzle audiences with sound and light installations during a night-time encounter. Further locations include Queens Square in Crawley, which will host Without Walls, a series of free outdoor pop-up art events suitable for all ages.
