Brighton Festival: Free Installation Will 'Bring Strangers Together'

Brighton Fringe and Brighton Festival are partnering to bring the large-scale immersive installation, Groundswell, by award-winning Australian artist Matthias Shack Arnott, to Brighton this May.

Groundswell is a free-to-enter installation suitable for all ages and will be open every day from May 6-28, situated on St Peter’s Square South by St Peter’s Church.  

Groundswell is a six-metre diameter circular platform home to 40,000 ball bearings. Each of these balls shifts and glows with every step as you move across the installation. When stepping on the tilted platform, you’ll hear wave-like sounds, creating a physical experience of sound and movement for all to enjoy. This installation aims to create connections between strangers in a public space and bring people together to enjoy a moment of excitement and play.

Groundswell sees Mathias Shack-Arnott collaborating again with Keith Tucker of Megafun and Tilman Robinson following their award-winning production Everywhen. Matthias is a multi-award-winning Melbourne-based percussive artist whose previous work has been described by The Guardian as “visually and sonically exquisite”.

Groundswell travels to Brighton from Australia with the support of The Pebble Trust, a Brighton and Hove-based association that grants support and financial aid to individuals and organisations involved in education, community and the arts across the city.

Julian Caddy, CEO of Brighton Fringe Ltd. said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with Brighton Festival and the Pebble Trust on the Groundswell project. This installation will bring an exciting, interactive and immersive experience for people of all ages from the Brighton and Hove community to enjoy together." 

Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival said:

“The month of May is a vital and vibrant celebration of all our city has to offer. We’re really proud to be working together with Brighton Fringe and The Pebble Trust to bring this free, fascinating and fun installation to Brighton & Hove for everyone to enjoy. Brighton Festival’s Guest Director Nabihah Iqbal has invited everyone to ‘Gather Round’ and experience the Festival together and Groundswell is the ideal way to begin that experience.”

Louise Arnell, Co-Director of The Pebble Trust said:

“As funders of both Festival and Fringe, we are delighted to support their partnership in bringing Groundswell to our city.  Groundswell will, we hope, offer fascination and fun to all.  Access is free - this was important to us -and we hope this experience will be a great addition to the extensive programme of free events this year.”

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Brighton Fringe is England’s largest arts festival and takes place from May 5 to June 4, with more than 500 events taking place at over 100 venues across Brighton and beyond.

Brighton Festival is the largest annual curated multi-arts festival in England and takes place from May 6 to May 28, with more than 100 events taking place across the city and the wider Sussex area.