17 Jun 08

The Pandemonium picnic procession

Hundreds of visitors flocked to the University of Oxford Harcourt Arboretum and its wildflower meadow, last weekend, for their Pandemonium picnic.

The successful event, on the evenings of Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June 2008, was held in collaboration with Oxford Contemporary Music who commissioned composer and creator Tim Hill to work with musicians and artists Dave Young, Dan Fox and Martin West – a team also known as Leviathan Whispers.

The Harcourt Arboretum is part of the University’s Botanical Gardens, but is different in that it has no walls, greenhouses, or straight lines. It is also home to a 37-acre meadow full of wild flowers. In these beautiful settings they created an evening of strange and magical sounds and sights for visitors to explore and encounter.

Those who attended the event came with picnics to make the most of the occasion and as dusk fell, gathered for a processional journey to welcome the coming of mid-summer.

Curator Louise Allen said: “The Pandemonium Picnic at the Harcourt Arboretum was an incredible success attended by over 500 people. This magical celebration of mid-Summer ended with a lantern lit procession through the wild flower meadow.”

Leviathan Whispers explored the sounds and music of the landscape, the earth and of ancient traditions to invent new ceremonies, celebrations and spaces, using giant horns, musical machines and a whole range of other sonic experiences.