Luz, by Les Mechants – An artist’s impression of one of Secret Garden Party’s spectacular art installations

Assuming you haven’t been driven mad by Glastonbury envy by now, you will probably be looking for another festival which has managed to bottle a little of that Glasto magic to see you through what’s turning out to be a rather glorious British Summer. Here at Frost, the festival that provided a glint of hope as we unkindly hoped for torrential downpour to rain on the parades of the 180,000 people who hadn’t inexplicably slept through multiple 9am ticket-buying wake-up calls is Secret Garden Party.

It doesn’t boast the monster stadium rock acts of its bigger rival (though headliners Bastille aren’t exactly the My Little Pony of the NME stable) but it does have the same unfakable, unidentifiable, unexplainable vibe that makes Glastonbury quite simply the greatest show on our fair isle.

One of the key parts of that ‘vibe’, beyond the music, the theatre, the lake, and the pyrotechnics, is the art. Huge, ambitious works scatter Secret Garden Party like giants’ toys, some to be interacted with, some gawped at, and some shat on by. Yes.

Lucky Shit by Hungry Castle, is described as “A giant pimped out yellow bird sculpture which, at some undisclosed stage of the festival, will ‘shit’ yellow goo on Gardeners who dare to pass beneath it.”

Luz by Les Mechants, is a giant sculpture cum architectural installation that comprises a glowing purple, pyramidal structure with a collection of carefully arranged mirrors inside. Festival goers are invited to creep inside and lend their (probably beautiful) visages to the sculpture, creating a kaleidoscopic extravaganza of headbands, flower necklaces and good looking humans which would stop Michael Eavis dead in his tracks.

There are nine of these extraordinary works at this year’s festival. They’re funded by commissioned grants via Secret Productions, the team behind Secret Garden Party and the Secret Arts Foundation, with the aim to encourage and support young artists whose work is interactive, thought provoking and suitable for a non-gallery location.

Each year the biggest and most spectacular sculpture is planted right in the middle of the lake. This year’s, somewhat unimaginatively code-named the ‘Middle of the Lake’ sculpture, will remain a closely guarded secret until the Garden opens on the 24th July. However we can offer readers of Frost one enigmatic clue from the conceivers and makers of this year’s sculpture, Pirate Technics:

“About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell”

So it’ll be something about Eric Pickles taking a bath in a poorly lit motel then. Let us know if you have a better idea!

If you want to join us at Secret Garden Party you can buy tickets here: http://tinyurl.com/at5tgug