Food for thought at Jurassic Coast arts programme

Exploratory Laboratory – or ExLab – is a ground-breaking arts programme along the Jurassic Coast, where earth scientists and artists collaborate to reveal hidden landscapes through the lenses of art, geology and technology.

As part of ExLab, artist Alice Angus of Proboscis invites you to join her at the Spring Tide Festival at Burton Bradstock, where you can contribute your stories and experiences of Burton Bradstock and Hive Beach to Storyweir.

Have you lived nearby, worked there, walked there, fished, farmed, swum, fossil hunted or anything else?

Alice is beachcombing for stories on the beach and invites young, old and everyone in-between, to bring words, ideas, or found objects to tie into the Storyweir net at the festival, which takes place on May 19 and 20 from 10am until 4pm.

Alice is especially keen to involve children in the process: “We’d love families and children to come along and make a postcard-sized drawing to add to the net about what they imagine humans are leaving in the landscape that future geologists will find in millions of years time!”

Storyweir is a ‘weir’ for catching stories – the title is inspired by traditional methods of fishing. It tells how the human story of Burton Bradstock and the Jurassic Coast converge, revealing how people and places impact on each other. Come and find Alice and attach your memories, words, small sketches or objects you have found in exchange for tea and cake.

Storyweir has been co-commissioned by Bridport Arts Centre and PVA Media Lab, in partnership with the National Trust and Hive Beach Cafe.

The Spring Tide Festival is West Dorset’s Jurassic Food Festival and all are invited along to the beach at Burton Bradstock to try, buy and browse great local food and drink. You will also have the chance to meet the producers and see the wide range of fantastic local arts.

For further details visit spring-tide.org.uk and proboscis.org.uk /tag/storyweir