THE OLD MARKET JOINS FORCES WITH BRIGHTON FESTIVAL TO PRESENT OF LAND SEA AND SKY

A THREE-WEEK SEASON OF INNOVATIVE, SENSORY AND IMMERSIVE EVENTS TO CELEBRATE OUR CONNECTIVITY TO NATURE

The Old Market, 11a Upper Market Street, Hove

As a seaside, grassroots venue based in the heart of Brighton & Hove, The Old Market is delighted to be part of this year’s Brighton Festival to celebrate our relationship with nature. This three-week season – kicking off with a Launch Party on Saturday 2 May – will feature a series of immersive and sensory experiences, one-off Q&A events, films and live music all rooted in and themed around land, sea and sky.

At a time when so much can feel fragmented, The Old Market feels it is essential to create opportunities for people to come together, share experiences and reflect on its place in a city that has always been shaped by its relationship to nature and community.

This programme it has created and curated for the Brighton Festival, invites audiences to gather, listen and rediscover this relationship together.

From the soil beneath our feet, the waters that shape our coastlines and the landscapes that hold our daily lives, audiences are invited to come and see and experience for themselves the joys and the importance of all that surrounds us.

Leading Brighton DJ, Changing Currents will get the Of Land, Sea and Sky season off to the perfect start with a huge launch party at The Old Market on Saturday 2 May.

A dynamic force in the world of electronic music, Changing Currents has built a massive global following with tours to Canada, India and South America and beyond – captivating audiences with his viral mashups and electrifying live performances. He is now a regular fixture playing regularly across Europe – fulfilling his childhood dream last June when he performed to thousands at Glastonbury.

From May 6-9, The Old Market presents a mindful underwater odyssey with the award-winning, family friendly and fully immersive exhibition – Sounds of the Ocean.

Whilst sat on beanbags, live ambient percussion music will accompany 360-degree visuals of ocean life and high-resolution footage of whales and dolphins from the deep waters off the coast of northern California.

Oceans contain between 50%-80% of all life on Earth. The goals of the Sounds of the Ocean live experience are to raise awareness and understanding around the critical issues facing the health of our seas, whilst holding space for thoughtful activism.

On Tuesday 12 May, the Kendal Mountain Tour returns to The Old Market for a one-off evening of adventure and human connection.

The very best, award-winning short films of the world’s stunning landscapes will be screened alongside a series of adventure speakers and talks by local community groups who will share their own journeys and tales of nature expeditions.

Whether you are an avid explorer or simply someone who cherishes the power of storytelling and the beauty of nature, the Kendal Mountain Tour 2026 promises to leave you inspired and moved by the shared human spirit of adventure.

TAKKUUK – a new, immersive audio-visual feast for the senses comes to The Old Market from 19-23 May. Sharing stories of indigenous life, culture and climate change in the arctic – this exciting environmental installation takes place in the Box format with four walls of projections for a fully 360-degree experience.

Created by Northern Irish electronic duo BICEP, visual artist Zak Norman and filmmaker Charlie Miller – specifically for immersive screenings – TAKKUUK explores the lives, communities and challenges facing artists Indigenous to the Arctic Region. Created in partnership with the charity, In Place of War as part of their EarthSonic programme, this must-see installation also features collaborations with several Indigenous vocalists recorded during Iceland’s Airwaves Festival in Reykjavik.

BICEP explains the importance and relevance of this current and highly topical installation: “As climate change increasingly impacts Arctic landscape and communities, it will also impact how all of us live, wherever we are in the world. We hope these raw, first-hand stories coming from the Indigenous artists and contributors in TAKKUUK will help to humanise those effects and inspire people to learn more about it.”

Concluding The Old Market’s Of Land, Sea and Sky season for The Brighton Festival on Friday 22 May is Saturama, presented by Werkha.

Live instrumentation, field recordings, dialectal poems and cinematic footage all form part of this unique audio-visual collaboration between artists, scientists, environmental researchers, activists and wild spaces. The result is a magical and awe-inspiring immersive journey – screened in The Box for a fully 360 degree experience – through the lesser-known landscape of our isles:temperate rainforests.

Helen Jewell, Creative Director of The Old Market comments: “Of Land, Sea and Sky feels like a really important moment for us at The Old Market and we are incredibly proud to be presenting it as part of Brighton Festival. Over the past few years, we have been exploring how immersive experiences can bring audiences closer not just to art, but to the world around us. This season uses our spaces to help reconnect people with the environments that shape our lives… the land beneath our feet, the sea that defines our coastline, and the skies above us.”

The Old Market is hugely grateful for the generous support of its sponsors Yes/No Productions, Enjoolata Foundation and Sussex Bay to make this season possible.

Of Land, Sea and Sky is part of Brighton Festival’s 60th Edition and takes place at The Old Market from Saturday 2 – Saturday 23 May 2026.