Part of The Sea Beneath project, Semaphore is a ‘blended’ performance/installation event which is planned for Hastings seafront on 17 May as the sun goes down, although the date is Covid and weather dependent. Developed with a host of local artists, Semaphore combines movement, light, original sound, spoken word, performance, film, puppetry and a choreographed semaphore display from young performers from the White Rock Theatre. The event will highlight exchanges of coded messages from Hastings, East Sussex, to some of the 24 other places on Earth called Hastings.
Semaphore revisits and revives work by the late Chris Wainwright, a respected photographer, environmentalist and Hastings resident. Chris’s partner and collaborator with him on much of his work, Anne Lydiat Wainwright, recently introduced the work they did together on a series of light works for the Semaphore creative team. Part of this was based on a short essay that Chris wrote in 2013 in which he describes how his use of semaphore links with his concerns about climate change and nuclear power.
The installations will be played out at intervals between approximately 7pm and 9pm. While most of it will be presented on digital platforms, we want to mount some live elements on Hastings seafront in front of Pelham Crescent from just before sunset and full darkness.
There will be a sequence of 7 events each lasting approx. 10 minutes with 10 minute pauses between. Some will be live and in real space – on the beach or on a boat – some live and in virtual space accessed via mobile devices, some pre-recorded and blended into the transmission.
