Source: City of Portsmouth
The site of Victoria Park’s lost bandstand and its buried past can be explored like never before through an immersive new digital artwork.
Experienced through personal devices, The Storm Cone is a unique sound and augmented reality artwork which has arrived in Portsmouth.
This breathtaking work by artist Laura Daly features newly commissioned music composed by Lucy Pankhurst and eight sound works by Daly. Visitors can ‘move around’ a life-size augmented reality bandstand at the city’s lost bandstand site in the centre of Victoria Park.
Using The Storm Cone free app on a phone or tablet, visitors will experience the last musical performance of an interwar brass band and trace the journeys of the departed musicians through the eight sound works.
The Storm Cone was originally commissioned by the University of Salford Art Collection and Metal, revealing the lost bandstands of Peel Park, Salford and Chalkwell Park, Southend in 2021.
It has now been transported to the city as part of Portsmouth City Council’s restoration and revitalisation of Victoria Park as the ‘People’s Park’, made possible by a £2.4m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Council Leader Cllr Steve Pitt said:
“The bandstand was an original feature of Victoria Park when it opened in 1878 as the first public park for the people of Portsmouth. Bandstands were hugely popular attractions in Victorian Britain, but like many others, Portsmouth’s was lost sometime before the outbreak of the Second World War.
“This new art and sound experience is a truly unique way of uncovering Victoria Park’s lost bandstand and learning about their cultural significance to life at the time.”
The Storm Cone was recently a finalist for the prestigious international Lumen Art Prize. It charts a story of loss, celebration, human strength and fragility.
It tells of the break-up and reshaping of communities during the interwar years and is named after Rudyard Kipling’s 1932 poem The Storm Cone, which has been interpreted as a forewarning for the Second World War.
The Storm Cone can be experienced in Portsmouth until 30 September, using the free app which will guide users to the artwork. Headphones are recommended for the best experience.
The Storm Cone was commissioned by Salford University Collection and Metal, with financial support from the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and additional support from Salford School of Arts, Media & Creative Technology, PN Daly Limited and Zinc and Copper Roofing Limited. Laura Daly is supported by The Artists Agency.
Laura Daly and curator Lindsay Taylor will be in conversation on Tuesday 16 September, 2-3pm, at The Green House Community Hub in Victoria Park. Get Tickets.