(Above) The inaugural "Festival of Ideas" arrives in Shrewsbury in July 2009
Festival: Shift Time, various venues, Shrewsbury, July 3-12 2009
In a frenzied year of events honouring Darwin's 200th birthday, the picturesque Shropshire town where everyone's favourite theorist was born has announced a suitably intriguing 10-day programme of festivities.
Theo Jansen will be introducing his Animaris Umerus sculpture at the launch of the Festival in Shrewsbury's Quarry Park before it moves to the town's St Mary's Church
There's a triple bill of performances curated by Opera North, a series of fairs and family attractions and a new installation by Marcus Coates among a packed schedule of films.
Possibly the biggest coup for the organisers of the inaugural Shift Time is an appearance by the Dutch engineer and kinetic designer Theo Jansen, who will be discussing the influence Darwin's evolutionary theories have had on his creations, including a 13-metre long sculpture he's made specially for this festival.
A range of performances feature in the 10-day programme
The Weather Man, the award-winning opera company's evening, offers biologist Arjen Mulder the chance to contest the theory of evolution, as well as a musical exposé of the relationship between Darwin and Captain Robert Fitzroy on the Beagle.
Coates promises a typically imaginative flight of fancy in Follow the Voice, drawing likenesses between animal cries and manmade sounds in a Unitarian church.
Highlights include a "book labyrinth" in the Park
Speeding up and slowing down noises from sources as inorganic as delivery lorry sirens and supermarket checkouts, Coates has found an "extraordinary" similarity between the calls of nature and our artificial precipice, echoing Darwin's own investigation into the subject, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.
Feng-Ru Lee will perform as her alter-ego, Milee the Sheep, revealing the "more disturbing aspects" of a "post-human future"
Elsewhere there's a labyrinth of books through a park, outdoor dance and aerial performances, a Green Fair and robotics you can play with.
Described as a "maverick", Jansen won the Special Jury Prize at Prix Ars Electronica in 2005 for his "singular contribution to art and science"
"This has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the town to work in partnership with a few of Britain's most innovative arts companies to commission some of theworld's most experimental, provocative and challenging artists across all the art forms," says Programme Director Anna Douglas. "It truly is a world-class event."
Visit the Festival website for full programme, times and prices.
The Weather Man by Opera North will tour nationally, taking in The Sage in Gateshead (July 15 2009), Howard Assembly Room in Leeds (July 17 and 18) and Riverside Studios in London (July 30 and 31). Visit their website for more details.
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