The first thing to say about the Hidden Door, is that it there is a lot to say. It's a festival doing things that no other has attempted, and it is doing them well. There's a lot to see, and too much to cover in any normal journalistic way. The map they give you when you arrive literally lays out in black and white the multifarious elements that have spread to the many corners of the Roxy Art House.
The upstairs area, aptly named The Garden, seemed as good a place to start when I first pitched up last night. I was keen to seek out the poetry project Impossible Journeys which features work from ten poets, including Claire Askew, Dave Coates, Eleanor Rees and Kona MacPhee, spread around the space as part of various art or sound installations.
As you make your way up the stairs following the path of avian zoetropes; you are greeted by the smell of freshly-cut grass. It soon becomes obvious that the source of this earthy smell is the actual metres of turf that have been laid out on the first floor. By this point, I safely assumed that I could take nothing for granted at this festival.
Luckily I managed to find Andrew Philip, whose ‘MacAdam Takes To The Sea’ is included among the poems in the area. His poem has been put together with a film by Alastair Cook. He kindly agreed to show me around. As we passed into what can only be described as a room full of white hazard suits backlit by a neon light, I asked Andrew to describe what he thought of the space.
“There’s something quite claustrophobic about it, and yet not claustrophobic at all. It’s almost in some ways like walking through clouds. It’s a very soft space, and then as you pass out into the next space there is something quite hard, it’s basically a breeze block with some iron pyrite on it. The contrast is what’s most impressive. I’m ever more intrigued by the installations each time I come through.”
Each poem features a visual element, as well as a recording playing on headphones so in that way you are encouraged to interact with them. I particularly enjoyed David Kinloch’s “I,Giraffe” which revolves around the vision of a giraffe in a flooded, post-apocalyptic, Paris.
The Hidden Door 2 Festival concludes tonight with performances from Black Diamond Express and Mighty Moth Magnets.
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