SHANGRI-LA - GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL. ARTIST CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 2019.

ABOUT:

SHANGRI-LA is Glastonbury Festivals most iconic late night area. 

Found tucked away in the farthest corner from the main stages, it has both inspired and challenged its vast and devoted audiences for the past decade. 

Through provocative art installations, underground music programming, spectacular set design and groundbreaking live art and performance, Shangri-La continues to push the boundaries of what a festival looks and feels like. These elements are woven together to create a fully immersive experience unlike any other.

Shangri-La strives to illuminate progressive culture with great urgency - in the field and beyond. By holding a mirror up to the masses, creating conversations, encouraging activism and engagement, and stimulating all of the senses, we aim to expand minds and open hearts, motivating people in politics and play. The audience enters a spectator, and leaves a participator.

This radical area has a deep history in outsider art and underground culture. By inviting new collaborators each year to contribute to our evolving narrative, it remains an incredible creative playground where this anarchic spirit continues to manifest in original and new ways, inspiring the next generation of cultural revolutionaries and amplifying the collective conscience. Shangri-La is the meta-narrative that strives to illuminate progressive culture and other-worldly entertainment within Glastonbury Festival.

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BRIEF:

We have an ongoing loose narrative at Shangri-La. We are currently in a new series focusing on the three R’s: Reuse, Recycle, Resist, and waste of any kind. It is reminiscent of a giant recycling plant - semi-industrial, with large towers of waste dominating the landscape. This year we have a new element - REFORESTATION - A huge "forest" maze of telegraph poles and hanging installations.

Continuing on from 2017s show "ENVIRON-MENTAL" we ask artists, makers and thinkers to collaborate with us on the second edition in the Re-use//Recycle//Resist series: "JUNKSTAPOSITION".

The entire set is created using recycled/reclaimed materials only - the first of its kind at a UK festival.

Almost 200,000 people come together to live and party for 5 days and nights at the Festival - An average of 40,000 people pass through Shangri-La each day/night. This inevitably has a large impact on the environment. We are trying to offset this as much as possible, and are examining ways we can influence the way people treat the land at the festival, and the planet as a whole. 

We are asking contributors/collaborators to consider what it is to be human in 2019, and to create work that encourages human connection.

In a world where we are more connected to the rest of the world than ever before digitally - are we losing our humanity by lack of physical connection and real-time live shared experiences?

Can shared experiences have an impact on our humanity? 

Will a deeper level of human connection impact the way we treat the environment collectively? 

Climate change poses a threat to internationally-recognized human rights, including the right to life, food security, water, health, and the right to live in your own country.

Your work could be a response to the current political, economic, cultural, social, and enviromental issues and influences we face globally. It could also just be a thing of joy and beauty.. equally as important in bringing people together.

There is no censorship at Shangri-La.

Work can be of any scale - from the minature to the collosal, subtle and fragile to all-consuming..

We welcome work in any medium, but we especially are interested in works that:

• Incorporate the 3 R’s - Reduce / Recycle / Reuse - Projects that will not require us adding to the waste cycle.
• Artworks and installations that help us to connect as human beings / as a community /get the audience interacting with the experience and each other.
• Use Performance/Live art to interact.
• Work that is political / encourages action and activism.
• Tree-like scuptures that can add to our REFORESTATION area.
• Projects that engage with people outside of the festival - before and after the event.
• Work that can be reused for other events or have some type of legacy.

Things to consider:

We have a huge audience at night time so work incorporating light/projection is very welcome, or consider how it should/could be lit in your application.

We have limited floorspace - so ideally sculptures and artworks will be suspended or placed high above the audience from scaffolding or telegraph poles, or sat on top of containers. It could have a practical use/become a venue - a treehouse? activist stand? seating? 

Does the work need to be invigilated/staffed? Does it have a performance element? Could it? We can assist with this.

Sculpture/Installation - Think about context within the field and how this will be secured and safe

Digital/projections - think about projecting above, below or onto sculptural pieces to create immersive environments.

We will also have an array of vehicles and containers that can be canvases - exteriors and interiors.

We can source materials for you as we can get better prices/free donations in bulk.

We have a large team of artists and makers on site who can assist with installation/build if necessary, and we may be able to provide you with some volunteers but would prefer you to be self sufficient, using your own tools and crew. 

Everyone that contributes to Shangri-La becomes a member of the team and family. We eat together, we party together, but we mostly work extremely hard together in a safe, supported and friendly environment. 

It is a building site for a month, then becomes a wild interactive playground - so health and safety is high on the agenda. Please consider this in your application. Before carrying out any work on site, you'll need to write a risk assessment and method statement and have a health and safety induction. Everyones well-being is our priority.

Tickets are thin on the ground but for crew who are working on-site, of course a ticket will be provided. Other tickets can be provided for crew depending on the scale of the project but plus ones aren't generally given as we need the tickets, but always worth asking.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please get in touch if you have more questions for us.