VISUAL ARTS
Each year Houghton Festival commissions new visual arts to exhibit on site. Ranging from towering 8m steel structures created by creative director Craig Richards which live permanently at Houghton, to new temporary light installations from internationally renowned artists. As the festival grows, so does its art programme.
Pretty Lucky x Lighthaus Studio
The ABI: Advanced Bassline Imager
2024
Utilizing advanced LED technology and precise audio visualization techniques, "The ABI" embodies the technology and sensors that gather and visualize high-frequency data from space.
Henry Krokatsis
Resonance Matters
2024
This year in resident artists Henry is working with sound frequencies. The work draws on the idea of the sound healing temples common in Ancient Greece (Asclepieia), and solfeggio frequencies used in 9thcentury Gregorian chant. His work is part of The Orchard.
Unknown Works
'The Armadillo'
2024
A pioneering timber arts pavilion commissioned for Houghton 2024 as part of a major new partnership with Architectural practice Unknown Works. The pavilion will host talks, wellness and alternative sets across the festival.
United Visual Artists
'Present Shock II'
2024
UVA will present a new iteration of their work Present Shock II in collaboration with Robert Del Naja at Houghton’s dedicated AV exhibition space The Warehouse in 2024.
Antonia Beard
'ON'
2022/23
This work weaves together the 12,000 wristbands that were never used in 2019. It was the artists way of paying homage to the dedication of all involved, the spirit, the energy and the attitude. To work with love, commitment and patience…
Craig Richards
'Andrew'
2023
An 8m high steel sculpture made in vivid memory of the late great Andrew Weatherall. The piece symbolizes his towering and gentle majesty. He remains a great inspiration to the festival and its ethos.
Henry Krokatsis
'Footwashing'
2022/2023
A social sculpture at Houghton 2023. A participatory performance work. Developed as an act of hospitality over 2,000 years ago and transformed into a religious rite as a way to exhibit humility and set aside the ego. From the Benedictine practice of communal foot washing, Eurykleia’s washing of Odysseus’s feet to Pedilavium, the washing of the Saints’s feet. The social sculpture was located in the Orchard running midday to 6pm everyday, they was nearly 400 peoples feet during the 2023 festival.
Weirdcore
'Fragmented'
2023
Aphex Twin collaborator and world renowned visual artist Weirdcore was commissioned in 2O23. His work was presented as part of the newly transformed Warehouse which incorporates the d&b spatial audio system — Soundscape.
Natural Symphony
'Mushroom Tree'
2024/23
Sound and light artists Natural Symphony used the natural bio rythms of plants to create the mushroom tree in 2023.
Craig Richards
'Heads inside and out'
2022
A robot shaped towering 6m structure designed by the festivals creative director Craig Richards and fabricated by metal artists Rory Nelson.
Craig Richards
'Heads inside and out'
2022
A sphere steel structure designed by the festivals creative director Craig Richards and fabricated by metal artists Rory Nelson.
Podmakers
'Walkway'
2019
Designed, built and erected by Podmakers. Made entirely with Siberian Larch. Originally commissioned for 2019 but sadly not presented till 2022.
Squid Soup
'Nova'
2018
The light artists & Four Tet collaborators were commissioned in 2O18 to create a light artwork for the lake at Houghton. Using long bespoke floating strands of individually addressable LEDs audiences were engulfed in the magic of the artwork as they walked from stage to stage.
Antonia Beard
'Trolley'
2017
Welded metal, Kennet and Avon - canal soaked - 46 years aged - shopping trolley, steel rebar, steel grids and found tractor wheel.