Glastonbury: Land and Legend

“Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England's green & pleasant Land"
- William Blake, c. 1808

photo: archive Glastonbury festival

The V&A is delighted to present the first ever immersive video installation about the Glastonbury Festival. Showcasing previously unseen footage captured at the festival in 2014, this installation explores the ethos of the largest green field performance festival in the world. Emerging from the idyllic Somerset countryside, the festival shapes and is shaped by this distinctive topography, which has been imbued with significance through centuries of myth and legend. Rooted in 1970s hippie culture, Glastonbury remains a platform for people from far and wide to come together in the Somerset countryside, to explore alternative societal narratives and tribes, promote Green politics and have five days of fun with the music, the mud and the madness. The festival has grown in scale since its humble beginnings in 1970, attracting 175, 000 people in 2014. The scale of the gathering is both inspiring and challenging, creating huge opportunity and infrastructure. The installation aims to capture this complexity through its exploration of the ideals and the design of the shared space.

Discover how the very fabric of the Glastonbury Festival is shaped by all three elements of PQ 2015's themes: Music Weather Politics.

Jaroslav Fragner Gallery May 28-June 28, 2015

Credits:
Exhibition Curator and Producer: Kate Bailey, V&A
Film Installation Director and Producer: Emily Harris, V&A
Video Design: Luke Halls
Editor: Warren Chapman
Sound Design: Gareth Fry
Project Coordinator: Helen Gush, V&A
Graphic Design: Marc Jennings
Exhibition Build and Audio Visual: Hawthorn Theatrical Ltd

Location Film Crew at Glastonbury 2014: Candida Richardson, Nick Gordon Smith, Gabrielle Levene, Jonathan Bentovim, Leanne Dimant, Gareth Fry, Rod Anderson, Sara Hill

Banner artwork: Areté Visual Arts - Katinka Harrod, Lesley Featherstone, Catch Sparrow, Alice Christina Evans, Elizabeth Jardine and Christopher Short, Silas Curtis, Tracey Shough, Celine and Joe Holman, Patricia Gould

Exhibition Headphones and Sound System: tonwelt GmbH

Prague Installation Coordinator: Barbora Adolfová

Photo: Adéla Vosičková