Hastings artists take to Underground to imagine end of the world as part of Coastal Currents

Exhibition Preview: End of the World, Underground, Hastings, September 8-23 2012

Described as a “unique and raw” central space, this end of the world scenario takes place in a bunker, conceived by Sharon Haward and Sarah Locke as part of Coastal Currents, the impressive visual arts festival which sweeps through Hastings each summer.

With the help of fellow artists they’ve made an apocalyptic spree of installations, moving imagery and performance pieces, all with the uplifting intention of deducing whether Armageddon might slowly fizzle the earth in toxic debris or be ended by “alien weather systems while we sit watching TV”.

Shanty towns, nomadic populations, scrapheaps awash with redundant products and technologies, ever-expanding, competing populations and the famous late-2012 assertions of the Mayan calendar have all been starting points for the show.

Locke’s is a nostalgic sound installation of ageing and defunct technologies, whereas Haward is more concerned with cataclysmic weather and an anarchic world order.

The hypnotic, nightmarish feel is soundtracked by a less-than-soothing audio-visual work from Johnny Crump, and Matt Littlemore’s samples, remixes, collages and codes aim for a “childlike” vision of the future.

• Underground, Robertson Street, Hastings. Coastal Currents runs September 8-23 2012. Visit www.coastalcurrents.org.uk for full details.

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