Latitude 2006: In Art

United Kingdom | by Frank Grimshaw | 16 July 2006

In this day and age it's no surprise to see a broader range of the arts represented at music festivals. When poetry, art, music, theatre and music are brought together it’s a reminder of how closely related they are and how they complement one another. And when it’s done well, as at Latitude, it makes for a more complete and satisfying festival experience.

One of the greatest things about festivals is finding the unexpected; stumbling across a party in the woods or when the rumours about the purple sheep or tree graffiti turn out to be true. These diversions are what transform a series of gigs in a field into something more. That’s why visual art works well at festivals. It can be hidden away, to be found by the festival-goer in their own time and at their own pace.

There were installations and canvases all across the site and not just yogurt-pot wind chimes and amateur hippy rubbish. Latitude has some relevant, quality artists doing genuinely interesting stuff. 

Lucy McLauchlan’s beautiful tree pixies are perfectly suited to their place in the woods. While Xenz and Inkie are among the best graffiti artists in the country. Stumbling across a big Inkie canvas in the glades could almost make you stop wishing they’d just crank up the system a bit. The strange Xenz installation glimmered like some magical doorway and it was cool to see people gawping and discussing it.

Live art always works well because it takes on an element of interaction. They guy doing the moody Impressionist oil paintings complained he couldn’t get any work done because every single passer-by wanted to speak to him about what he was doing.

If this is Mean Fiddler trying to get in on the Big Chill action, and that’s what it seems to be, then they’ve got the right idea. However, they need louder music and more people. It may be aimed at the off-road pram picnic posse because they can’t take the pace anymore but they don’t want to be reminded they can’t take it. The art worked well though, festivals always need more multicoloured sheep.