On 24 May 2018, Lighthouse invites an audience to imagine what culture will be like 2000 years in the future, through a unique collaboration between Elijah, GAIKA, Haroon Mirza and Jack Jelfs.

Devised and created at the world’s largest scientific experiment – The Large Hadron Collider at CERN (LHC), the performance uses artefacts and electronic components left over from old experiments. An on-stage immersive experiment is performed live to the public for the first time at Brighton Festival.

The Wave Epoch presents a fictional scenario into the future in which LHC and CERN have long become redundant and rediscovered by a future civilization. Exploring how our perception of purpose-built locations evolve over time, the artists look to ritualistic tendencies of humankind and question how these landscapes may be reinterpreted. Acknowledging performance as a form of ritual, The Wave Epoch anticipates the possibility of the LHC losing its original meaning and being read as a site of ceremony, like that of Stonehenge. GAIKA will perform The Wave Epoch live at Brighton Festival in two performances at Brighton’s Brighthelm Community Centre, at 2pm and 5pm. The Wave Epoch is streamed live and has the potential to tour to other organisations after its second presentation at FACT, Liverpool.

The themes explored in The Wave Epoch have formed the starting point from which our open call for Last Dance: Re-Imagined Futures take shape. This commission activates audience to respond to critical and social challenges in technological advances (in 2000 years) through the production of a new artwork by Haroon Mirza. It deepens and diversifies the audience by enhancing the experience of existing audiences and extending the reach to new and different groups. It also offers transnational working for artists and organisations.

Photo: Bip Mistry