Spanning theatre, circus, opera, dance, music, outdoor arts and family shows
Spanning the summer – from Saturday 1 July to Thursday 31 August 2023 – the Kensington and Chelsea Festival will take place across the borough in a reimagining of its spaces.
From the best-known cultural venues to the less-discovered areas and outdoor spaces, Kensington and Chelsea Festival will make use of every inch of the borough to host a multitude of live art performances, large and small, showcasing exceptional established artists alongside the very best emerging talent.
With a cultural offering that spans theatre, circus, opera, dance, music, outdoor arts, family shows, participatory activities, talks, walks and public art pieces, the festival was born out of a desire to lift spirits by celebrating culture and creativity.
Furthermore, the festival’s curation is driven by a core mandate to ensure that the borough provides this cultural event for everyone; everyone who lives within the borough and all visitors. And this means that it has been designed so that budget and spoken language are no barriers to being able to enjoy a wide range of what the festival has to offer.
One of the most exciting projects to appear at the Festival will be Mars, the touring artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram. Measuring seven metres in diameter, the artwork features 120 dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Martian surface. At an approximate scale of 1:1 million, each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture represents 10 kilometres of the surface of Mars.
The artwork allows us to view Mars from the air, as though we are a satellite mapping and studying the surface in perfect detail. Every valley, crater, volcano, and mountain is laid bare for us to inspect. We are transported to this desert wasteland, to imagine what it’s like to step foot on this incredible planet and in comparison, really value our life on Earth.
Mars was named by the ancient Romans for their god of war because its reddish colour was reminiscent of blood. Accompanying the Mars sculpture is a specially created sound composition by BAFTA and Ivor Novello award-winning composer Dan Jones.
The online brochure with full festival details is now live and can be accessed at www.kcfestival.co.uk.
