To mark Silver Hayes’ 10th anniversary at Glastonbury, the original home of electronic music at the festival reveals a new artistic Pavilion, debuting in 2023 with an inaugural project entitled ‘6°’.
The first ever Hayes Pavilion project will harness the interconnected power of mushroom roots – the extraordinary underground network known as mycelium – and investigate the potential adoption of this biomaterial in the creative industries.
Inspired by its potential as a new industrial material, a selection of multi-disciplinary practitioners, from film, TV, set design and educational institutes such as Central St Martins, the Royal College of Art, and Bath Spa University, will explore artistic expression, creative possibilities and investigate the potential of mycelium.
The project aims to demonstrate the opportunity to move away from environmentally impacting materials to a more sustainable fungi future. When mycelium is fed with agricultural waste, it forms a construction material, such as polystyrene, foam and plastics, but is entirely organic and compostable. In the 6-week period leading up to the installation at Glastonbury festival, this creative collective will test, manipulate, and challenge what is possible with mycelium as a practical material.
On site at Glastonbury the Pavilion will showcase these findings in an exhibition that journeys through simple 2-dimensional forms into innovative 3- dimensional approaches, which will push the creative limits of the mycelium material.
The magical mycelium Pavilion will also play host to specially commissioned immersive sound art compositions by academic and musician Brian d’Souza (Auntie Flo) and rising star Or: La in collaboration with harpist Roísín Berkeley. The music will highlight the ties between people and places that emulate the connectivity of mushrooms.
The creative learnings from the mycelium project at the Hayes Pavilion, as well as carbon data collection, will be published in a report after Glastonbury. The aim is to give the wider industry the findings and recommendations on best practice for future creatives wanting to interact with the biomaterial.
A short film will also be published documenting the journey. This video team will include training placements through Big Team CIC. Big Team is Team Love’s inner city youth outreach and engagement CIC, that creates both opportunity within their business and the festival industry.
The new Pavilion forms a central part of Silver Hayes’ 2023 evolution story. Marking its 10th anniversary this June, the iconic electronic music field will unveil a new iteration of the whole area, driven by cutting edge ideas and future technologies. 2023 will also see Silver Hayes introduce a stage for urgent debate on music culture and beyond titled The Information and unveil creative re-imagining of three iconic stages – culminating with the reveal of THE LEVELS, Glastonbury’s newest open-air nightclub offering.
The Hayes Pavilion will be a returning platform for artistic research and development at Glastonbury each year, looking at how festivals can be at the forefront of new ideas, materials and products which will potentially help society move towards a more sustainable future.
The project is led by Silver Hayes’ Team Love and designed by Simon Carroll from Temple Design Studio in association with Big Team CIC, Glastonbury Festival and manufacturer, Biohm & Grown Bio. It is also supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Emily Eavis, co-organiser of Glastonbury Festival:
“We’re so excited to be bringing this groundbreaking installation to this year’s Festival, and I hope visitors will flock to Silver Hayes to check out the incredible, sustainable potential of mycelium at the Pavilion.”
