Latitude 2010 the 5th Edition took place this summer with a line up that included Florence and the Machine, Belle and Sebastian and Vampire weekend (Thursday 15th - Sunday 18th July)
As part of the festival Ben Osborne [Noise of Art] and myself teamed up to put on an alien themed event to take place over the course of the festival.
Where is my treasure? I know you're hiding it and using it for pleasure!
The theme of these events is inspired by a real incident that occurred in a Suffolk forest in the winter of 1980. Thirty years ago a hapless alien cruise ship landed in Rendlesham Forest next to a US Air Force Base. This was a mistake. The accidental tourist ship was supposed to be landing on the Mountain of Embarrassing Dreams. But the captain, having un-opposable hoofs, entered the wrong data into the ship’s satellite navigation, so they landed near Woodbridge instead.
the Story went something like this -
During the kerfuffle of getting away from the naturally curious US Air Force, priceless artefacts belonging to the alien tourists were scattered across the forests, towns and fields of East Anglia. Lying lost for 30 years (or a long weekend in alien time), the aliens have now returned to find the lost treasures.
The Rendlesham Forest Incident was reported to the MOD by Lt. Cl. Charles l Holt, the deputy commander of the US Air Force base.
So to kick off the extraterrestrial shenanigans the party started at midnight at the Film and Music tent with Severino and Ben Osborne (resident DJs at Horse Meat Disco and Slipped Disco respectively), My Toys Like Me and The 9000 combining to create the music, while The Immaculate Extremists, Overlap, Your Mum and Prick Image created the visuals and costumed performances. During this period a team of Alien Hunters patrolled the festival site looking for aliens and informing the public of the dangers of encountering the other worldies. Information was also handed out about the planned treasure hunt where earthlings were invited to take part in helping the aliens search for their treasure. Any successful participants would be rewarded with Earth art.
A poor alien being autopsied in the name of entertainment. What kind of savage rock are we living on?
(Click on image for more of the same)
The Alien Art Hunt -
For the next two days, the Faraway Forest played host to the eager and helpful in the crowd as they gathered to join the hunt for the missing alien artefacts.
The excited folks all scuttled around frantically in the forest like rabid truffle-hunting swines looking for any sign of the aliens' bounty. They had to be careful though as some counterfeit artefacts had also been lost in the area and they come with no reward. Upon finding a treasure they returned to Alien HQ to receive their gift of Earth art.
The artists who had kindly donated works to the event were -
I've listed all the artists in the order they became involved with the project. I recommend you check them all out. They are truly awesome and I thank them all for their hard work and contributions. It was a superb collection of work! What a great gift to take home from the festival.
May peace be with you whilst you live long and prosper all you nanoo nanoos out there and remember these aren't the droids you are looking for.
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