To Glastonbury and beyond: the London designers shaking up the festival scene

This is Block9, the hottest party venue you?ve never heard of, and the one drawing crowds by their thousands away from the much-hyped Glastonbury sets of Mumford & Sons et al.

Back bigger and better for their sixth year, Block9 are leading the alternative festival scene ? which at Glastonbury 2013 included a towering mechanical spider that breathes fire, a psychedelic, horror show circus and an ancient temple-cum-night-club ? with a new concept and a refreshing outlook.

Gideon Berger and Steve Gallagher, the creative duo behind Block9 and Worthy Farm?s new ?Genosys? experience, met in an old west London workshop as two frustrated designers looking for something new.

?My creative itch was becoming unbearable - it desperately needed scratching,? says Steve he talks in front of their first Glastonbury installation ? NYC Downlow ? a sort of grimy backstreet New York film set from the 1980s which has been taken over by transvestite aliens hell-bent on debauchery.

?We had reached the point where working freelance, with our work taking second place, was becoming frustrating.?

?When we showed NYC Downlow at Glastonbury in the summer of 2007, we did it on a shoestring budget, a wing and a prayer and it was an instant success. It really cemented the fact that we had a similar aesthetic and, together, could do good things,? he added.

Their latest creative endeavour ? showcased for the first time at this year?s festival ? takes its inspiration from brutalist architecture and the industrial landscape photography of Edward Burtynsky.

?It?s?definitely our most ambitious project to date,? said Steve as 55 tonnes of scaffolding, set and lighting rig tower above pumping out early Chicago house beats.

?We aim to?construct complete temporary realities, so every detail of our installations ? everything that you see, hear or feel; the music, set design, props, lighting, staff, performers ? are all carefully orchestrated.?

Hovering in the shadows of an ancient industrial power facility, this imposing stage seeks to explore the birth of electronic music by offering an audiovisual hybrid that blurs the lines between music and art, something which seems to tie in with what Gideon and Steve do away from the wide-eyed revellers and late night raves.

In 2010 they partnered with the Roundhouse Theatre and brought 25 young people to the Block9 field to work alongside industry professionals in setting up and operating the venues.

?Supporting the arts in the UK is something we are both passionate about,? explains Gideon.

?We have really benefited from other artists giving us a leg up in the past. The opportunity to work with young people can be really great and ultimately very rewarding for both parties.?

As the dust settles on another year at Worthy Farm Gideon and Steve reflect on where to take things next, and unsurprisingly the answer is eclectic, intriguing and inevitably vague.

?After this we?re heading off to a festival or two in Eastern Europe to explore how we might be able to bring Block9 to a new audience in 2014.? We also recently completed the set design for Lana Del Ray?s recent tour so we?re always busy working on different things,? muses Steve.

The big question will be where major festivals like Glastonbury can go from here, and the answer has to be in new and creative experiences like Block9 and party fields neighbours Shangri-la, Arcadia, The Common and the Unfairground.

Three well-known festivals have already folded this summer, and other big names like Reading and Download have struggled to shift tickets. Glastonbury has always been ahead of the curve, but now it?s up to a new generation of party organisers to crank things up a notch.

Source: http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/to-glastonbury-and-beyond-the-london-designers-shaking-up-the-festival-scene-8687740.html

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