Arcadia to debut four new visual pieces at Glastonbury 2020
It's thanks to a £49,000 grant from Arts Council England
Arcadia will debut four new visual pieces at Glastonbury 2020 thanks to a £49,000 funding grant, but its plans for the 20 metre Pangea crane base to remain on site until 2023 have been rejected.
The artistic company, who received the cash from the south west branch of Arts Council England, will use the money to develop four new pieces at the Somerset festival's 50th anniversary.
Up until 2018 Arcadia - who use recycled and recovered military and industrial hardware to create their installations - was most known for its giant fire-breathing mechanical spider called Metamorphosis that festival-goers could dance around and underneath.
In 2019 it was replaced by Pangea - a 50 metre tall crane, which shot flames into the sky and had a giant globe beneath it that projected a 3D light show.
While the team had planned to keep its 20 metre crane base on the festival site until 2023, planners rejected the proposal due to its 'excessive scale' and 'alien industrial design'.
Mendip District Council turned down Arcadia Spectacular LTD's plans for the 'partial erection of (a) crane structure' for a period until August 1, 2023 because it was "incompatible' with the countryside" and would "degrade the quality of the agricultural landscape".
The council added that there was "no compelling argument for its need" and the "encroachment on the countryside" outweighed any benefits of the plan.
The news comes after Mendip City Council already approved plans to allow 7,000 more people in this year bringing the total up to 210,000.
Glastonbury 2020 is set to take place from June 24th to 28th. Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney have been revealed as headliners for this year's festival with one more yet to be announced. Diana Ross will hold down the Sunday afternoon legends slot.
The festival sold out in a record 34 minutes when tickets went on sale early in October of last year.
