After my arrival on Friday night, my first point of interest was the Art Trail. At first I thought it was a shame that it was only open at nights for a few hours, seemingly depriving all art-hungry festival goers of stimulation during the day. But actually, curator Alice Sharp knew what she was doing since most artworks and installations really unfolded their real impact during darkness.
Simon Faithfull’s Fake Moon – a huge lighted helium balloon slowly wondering across the hill behind the main stage – heralded the opening of the Art Trail on Friday night which, as if arranged, was afflicted by a cover of clouds hiding the real moon.
Strolling along the trail, I was particularly interested by the artworks that were making use of moving images. Stable by Kathleen Herbert was a poetic “still life” film streamed on a big screen inbetween trees, showing long scenes of horses that had been brought into the completely empty Gloucester Cathedral to walk around freely, with great sound effects of their clopping hooves.
Responsible Tourism: Camel Riders, also on big screen on a little clearance, was a continuous loop of 3 seconds of footage that had been taken of camel riders in the desert of Mali. It nearly had a hypnotising effect – after a while you noticed so many little details in the background that would have been lost had you seen it only once – it even led to an edgy feeling of anxiety, wondering how certain dangerous looking actions that had been interrupted by the loop would have continued, being both relieved to be spared of the end and left in unsatisfactory ignorance. I had to force my eyes to move on in order to end the spell.
As a musician, I particularly liked Sewn to the Sky by Juneau Projects which consisted of a self-made computer game that was shown on a screen behind a 3-piece band with guitarist, bassist and drummer, the prior 2 using customised sculptural instruments. Apparently, the protagonist of the game (resembling a ball of wool) was led through the 2-dimensional paper-cut phantasy world through the interaction of the instruments and the music itself. How exactly didn’t become clear but it was fun to watch the ball of wool finding its way through its fictional universe and also stimulating to think about how music can be made visible and appealing to more than just one of the human senses.
At that point I didn’t know that this last artwork would gain even more importance and fascination only a day later when I found out that this is not as fictional a concept as it might seem!
I visited the Media Mix Tent which – as the name suggests – had the mission to tackle exactly this subject of stimulation through multiple channels. The interaction between music and visuals wasn’t new to me, mostly in the form of a DJ playing alongside a VJ who would create live visuals for the screens. This alone is great and I always found that visuals increase the attraction and feeling of involvement for the audience; but all this was absolutely surpassed by my favourite act of the festival: a live performance of Japanese artist Cornelius and his band.
For a whole hour, they delivered an “Ultimate Sensual Synchronised Show”, i.e. their music was accompanied by amazingly animated stories on the screens which seemed incredibly real and were perfectly synchronised with the rhythm, texture and sound of the music and even certain actions of the musicians themselves. Cornelius truly took the audience on a musical and visual journey that included following a soap bubble or a swarm of birds through the skies, water drops through tabs, dancing sugar cubes through a kitchen, a race through the streets of New York City at night and much much more. This symbiosis of music and images was absolutely impressing and for me personally opened new doors to experiencing music. Cornelius and their performance were a hidden gem in the line-up of the Big Chill and I was nearly sorry that the tent was only half full – they easily could have played the main stage and wooed thousands more people but at the same time it made it an even more special discovery.
This seek-and-find mentality did apply to the whole festival. It wasn’t easy to satisfy one’s musical taste since the line-up on nearly every stage was very diverse and included many not-so-known names. But this made the charme of the Big Chill: there’s something for everyone and if you’re prepared to walk around with open eyes and open ears you will be surprised. Apart from music and art you could enjoy spoken word and poetry performances, serious talks about serious matters, a big Body & Soul section to relax and try organic food (such as algae and coconut balls – delicious!) and not to forget the well organised kids’ entertainment areas for children of all ages.
Apart from the commonly high prices for food and drinks as the appear on all festivals, the Big Chill again proved that it stands out by providing a great programme and relaxed experience for young and old alike.
