Lost Horizon Virtual Festival

Lost Horizon, online, 3–4 July 2020, free entry - Visit now

From the team behind Glastonbury’s legendary Shangri-La comes Lost Horizon, the world’s largest virtual reality music and arts festival.

Glastonbury’s ever-changing Shangri-La is one of the most striking areas of the festival. It’s a theatrical, immersive installation, renowned for its cutting-edge originality, artistic quality and musical curation. With Glastonbury 2020 *sigh* cancelled, the team behind Shangri-La have partnered with VRJAM and Sansar to take their amazing work into the digital arena. It’s a bid to unify festival-goers from their own homes during lockdown, and to raise funds for The Big Issue and Amnesty International.

A real festival in a virtual world

Lost Horizon will be a fully interactive, multi-stage festival accessible through a computer, mobile app or virtual reality headset via the Sansar platform. It will feature computer-generated avatars and green screen performances from some of the world’s most iconic electronic artists, who will play across three virtual stages. The main stage – the Gas Tower – is under the curation of Orca Sound Project. There, you’ll be able to watch AV/VJ sets from the likes of Seth Troxler, Peggy Gou, Jamie Jones, Eats Everything and Carl Cox.

The well-loved Freedom Stage, meanwhile, will be headlined by A. Skillz, Afriquoi and Alabama 3. There’s also a new stage called Nomad, which has been created for the 30th Anniversary of the Traveller’s field that came before Shangri-La. This will be headlined by 24hr Garage Girls, Majestic and Sammy Virji X Shosh Feat Forca & Kelsey Sings.

You’ll also be able to tune into broadcasts from SHITV (Shangri-La International Television). These broadcasts will span everything from the absurd to the enlightened, from the sidelines, frontlines and backstages of alternative culture. Expect films, documentaries, theatre, live art, comedy, animation and talks including Sofia Olins Lost in Vagueness, the extraordinary untold story of Glastonbury Festival’s most iconic and anarchic sideshow attraction, Lost Vagueness.

Lost Horizon will also mirror Shangri-La’s huge outdoor art gallery, and will feature over 200 visual art pieces, curated by ShangrilART on the ongoing theme of human connection. Featured on the towering billboards that surround the Freedom Stage will be a new exhibition co-curated by world-famous graphic designer Malcolm Garrett with Lost Horizon and Shangri-La creative director, Kaye Dunnings. The show, part of a partnership with creative not-for-profit organisation Design Manchester, will feature the work of over 40 globally renowned graphic artists, including Morag Myerscough, Patrick Thomas, Matt Ipcar, Raissa Pardini, Clive Russell and Paula Scher.

Billed as a real festival in a virtual world, Lost Horizon is a pretty amazing response to the unfortunate cancellation of this year’s Somerset festival. Tune in on the 3^rd and 4^th of July for what sounds like quite a trip.