Fleeting

An exploration of Brighton’s West Pier, it’s mortality; people and culture at the very edge (MEETING PLACE?) of land and sea; migration.

Commissioned by Brighton Festival

Festival Finale Installation on Brighton Beach by the West Pier.

A murmuration of starlings over the West Pier! Shape-shifting without borders or boundaries: thousands of chattering individuals move as one. Like the precarious pier that’s gradually being reclaimed by the sea, it’s a magnificent expression of the impermanence of our world.

As daylight fades, hundreds of individual points of fire create shapes and swathes of glowing light and shade. Move closer; is that the sound of erosion, of rusting perhaps? Maybe this is what progression sounds like? Is it the sound of birds in flight, or of time passing? Is it the sound of the shifting, ever-changing population? Maybe you can hear memories of migration.

Evoking a sense of awe, wonder and calm contemplation, Fleeting is at once a tribute to the West Pier, the people of Brighton and Hove and the transforming power of nature – a fitting finale to Brighton Festival 2015.

Conceived and created by And Now:
Working with And Now’s Mandy Dike and Ben Rigby to realise Fleeting were:

Music composition: Stu Barker.

Soundscape: Thor McIntyre-Burnie.

Voice collection: Tom Bailey

Performance: Flick Ferdinando

Assistant Performance: Siou Hannam, Avis Cockbill

Crew: Tom Bailey, Pete Mountain, Gavin Lewery. Mat Nichols, Chris Hoxey, Brian Thunder, Paul Harrington and Jon Bielstein

Volunteer co-ordinator: Natasha Padbury.

A very big thank-you to all the volunteer participants.

Production for Brighton Festival: Polly Barker.

Technical development: Mike Pattison

Sound and Light Equipment: H2