Visual Art Highlights: Everyone is invited to play and have fun at interactive installations, special screenings and immersive exhibitions

This May, children and adults can get involved and celebrate the wonder and magic of the everyday with our vibrant visual art programme.

Weaving Wonders

From 4-26 May, come on down to the Royal Pavilion Gardens for the free, interactive installation, 100 Miles Of String, from local contemporary arts organisation, Leap Then Look. All ages can weave and wind thousands of metres of string together to create a temporary, ever-changing community landmark in the heart of Brighton. 

Slimy Stuff

Step into the weird and wonderful world of award-winning visual artist and quantum physicist, Dr Libby Heaney in her free interactive exhibition, Ooze Machines. Featuring ‘oozing’ glass sculptures, immersive multi-channel video, 2D works and a gaming experience, the exhibition explores ideas about the sliminess of the body and big tech. For the whole family, hosted at Phoenix Art Space.

Commissions And Premieres

Uplifting new annual Brighton Festival commission, As We Really Are, brings local filmmakers together with Frank Cottrell-Boyce and former Guest Director, David Shrigley, as they highlight the wonder in the everyday with films of Brighton communities as they live, work and play.

Settle in for a special screening at Duke of York's Picturehouse with a panel discussion featuring Frank and David.

Elsewhere, avant-garde performance duo Flexer & Sandiland’s new interactive installation An Elevated Platform invites visitors to take to the stage in front of an invisible crowd that will react to every movement they make! Do you have what it takes to please a crowd? Free and suitable for the whole family.

The Power Of Sound

Neolithic Cannibals: Deep Listening to the Unheard is a unique sound art project from artists and campaigners, Class Divide, who worked with young people in Whitehawk and East Brighton to listen to their contemporary environment and create a unique soundscape, inspired by their local area.  Come along to the free sound art exhibition with talks and workshops at Lighthouse, Kensington Street 4 to 19 May.

On 21 and 22 May at the Corn Exchange, award-winning filmmaker and Brighton Festival favourite Sam Green returns with his otherworldly, 2024 Academy Award-shortlisted documentary, 32 Sounds; a phenomenal immersive film and sensory experience that bends time and influences perception.

Fine Art

Don’t miss the chance to see a gem of the art world with National Treasures: Rembrandt in Brighton, featuring Rembrandt’s renowned Self Portrait at the Age of 34. On 10 May at Brighton & Hove Museums, the exhibition is part of the National Gallery’s 200th anniversary celebrations to simultaneously exhibit artistic national treasures in museums and galleries across UK.

London-based photographer and artist, Alejandra Carles-Tolra, has collaborated with Brighton arts charity, Photoworks, to help young people create art that expresses how they would like to be seen when they reach the age of 34, which you can see alongside the exhibition.

More Dates For The Diary

Throughout the Festival - Children’s Illustration Exhibition. Free exhibition by children’s booksellers The Book Nook, celebrating the wealth of children’s book illustrators in the local area.

4 May-1 Sep - Days of Wonder. Celebrating early cinema and film making, the free exhibition is inspired by the remarkable film and media collections held at Hove Museum of Creativity and Screen Archive South East.

23 May - An Evening at the Booth Museum. Join ethical taxidermist Jazmine Miles-Long in discussion, plus exclusive behind the scenes tours with the Natural Science Curator and more.