A Forest Festival

Music. Forests. Art. Ideas. Sounds good, right?

Timber is a new festival exploring the transformative impact of forests, with an exciting programme of artists, performers and areas. Music, art, philosophy and sustainability will weave together into an exhilarating weekend in the heart of the National Forest, one of Britain’s boldest environmental projects.

Festivalgoers will adventure through for its inaugural edition this July (6th-8th), exploring what woodlands can mean to us and how we can re-imagine our relationship with our environment.  There will be the opportunity to play and create in an arboreal wonderland, where the tonic of wildness rules supreme. 

It's all taking place in the National Forest, the first forest to be created at scale in England for over 1000 years. Spanning parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire, the first trees in the National Forest were planted over 25 years ago, to transform a landscape that had been left scarred and derelict by the closure of the Midlands coalfield. It's a forest for the nation, a national asset that demonstrates a revolutionary approach to forestry, showing how well-designed woodlands can enrich the lives of people, businesses and wildlife, while helping to address climate change.

Highlights include the world premiere of Seek, Find, Speak, the outdoor theatre companion to The Lost Words, music headliners Jane Weaver and This Is The Kit, a keynote address from Stuart Maconie, the English festival premiere of Jony Easterby’s new interactive performance Tree and Wood, and the greenfield festival premiere of Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon.

I'm particularly looking forward to Marshmallow Laser Fest: In the Eyes of the Animal, where you can discover what it’s like to be an animal in the forest through the eyes of four woodland species in an immersive virtual reality experience (have a look at the video below for a taster).

DIVE INTO THE EYE OF THE ANIMAL AT SUNDANCE INFO: http://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/new-frontier-projects-and-films-announced-for-2016-festival To see updates as the project evolves follow us on instagram: https://instagram.com/marshmallowlaserfeast/ This new commission enables audiences to encounter England’s forests anew through an immersive virtual reality experience, told by the inhabitants of the forest. A 360º film, it is an artistic interpretation of the sensory perspectives of three species natural to the site. Creative collective Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) delight in exploring the line between virtual and real-world experiences. In this work they use the mask of virtual reality to explore different perspectives of familiar landscapes. Through observing the function of animal sight - a dragonfly experiences life over 10 times faster than a human and in 12 colour wavelengths (a human in a combination of three) - the film & accompanying soundtrack are a speculation of an alternative reality. The forest & animals were captured using techniques such as lidar & CT scanning, photogrammetry and a bespoke-built 360º aerial camera. Footage was processed using custom software to create the landscapes explored in the work. The film is set to a binaural soundtrack using audio recordings sourced from the surrounding woodland. Commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices and Forestry Commission England’s Forest Art Works. Produced by Abandon Normal Devices and Marshmallow Laser Feast. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England and Forestry Commission England. Come and immerse yourself, tread carefully and step into the sensory world of the creatures. From the forest floor to the tops of the trees, come and observe through the eyes of the animal. TOUR DATES COMING SOON Commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices and Forestry Commission England’s Forest Art Works. Produced by Abandon Normal Devices and Marshmallow Laser Feast. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England and Forestry Commission England.Equipment Support byNvidia and Sub Pac. CREDITS: Concept and Direction: Barnaby Steel & Robin McNicholas Visual Artist: Ersinhan Ersin Visual Artist: Natan Sinigaglia Interaction Designer: Abraham Manzanares Designer: Marc Winklhofer Modeling: fablefx Sound Artist: Antoine Bertin, SounDoesnTravel Producer: Eleanor (Nell) Whitley Assistant Producer: Annatruus Bakker MLF Executive Producer: Adam Doherty Further support with equipment by Sub Pac www.thesubpac.com and Nvidia www.nvidia.co.uk/ Binaural engine by TwoBigEars https://twobigears.com

There will also be a fire garden, forest films, a masked ball, storytelling, a coppice maze, woodland workshops, forest bathing, foraging, and a seven metre sculpture of the moon(!).

I'm delighted that Creative Countryside is supporting this not-for-profit festival with sustainability at its heart. 

Fancy joining me in July? Get your earlybird ticket here.

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Collaboration Note:  Thank you to Timber Festival for inviting us to attend.  All thoughts are my own.