News

Latitude Festival announces more names for 2017

• 22nd Jun 2017

Now in its 12th edition, Latitude Festival once again sets the bar high for summer festivals, with a host of new names added to the line up across the Music stages, Music & Film Arena and talks in the Wellcome Trust Arena, the Speakeasy and the Faraway Forest. Latitude Festival takes place on 13th – 16th July in the stunning grounds of Henham Park, Suffolk. Tickets are available here.

Public Service Broadcasting will be joining a star-studded line up in the Obelisk Arena alongside this years’ headliners The 1975, Mumford and Sons and Fleet Foxes. The innovative outfit craft one of the most visually stunning live shows on the festival circuit, taking material from their critically acclaimed back catalogue to intergalactic new heights.

As anticipation builds for their forthcoming debut album, Norway’s Sløtface, who have proved themselves as one of the most exciting new acts of the year will be joining the stellar music line up. Another raucous live act joining the bill is Dead Pretties, who have been wowing crowds across our nation’s capital over the last year. Saint Motel will bring a dreamy-pop performance to the Sunrise Arena, while Suffolk’s own Bessie Turner and 80s influenced jokers Rad Pitt join the Lake Stage line up as part of BBC Introducing.

The Music and Film Arena will play host to one of the brightest MC talents to emerge from the UK’s buzzing grime underground scene in recent years, AJ Tracey, and MC, producer and Best Grime Act MOBO Award nominee, Novelist. Hip-hop DJ and Radio 1 Xtra host DJ Semtex will join them, taking the Latitude party late into the night. Dutch electronic producer, songwriter and vocalist Chagall will perform Collaboration, and leading variety performer La Voix will dazzle the Latitude audience with a one of a kind performance with actress Harriet Thorpe.

The Music & Film Arena will host a screening of Whitney: Can I Be Me; a documentary unveiling an unparalleled look at the life and ultimately passing of one of the world’s most successful female artists Whitney Houston, through unseen footage and live recordings. Alt.Russia takes you on Placebo’s tour from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia to St Petersburg in the Baltic Sea, investigating the alternative culture in Russia from artists, architects, animators and musicians whilst taking in the raw emotions of Latitude’s Friday BBC Music Stage headliners, Placebo who will introduce the film to the Latitude crowd in person.

The director behind the legendary Jason Bourne action thrillers, Paul Greengrass, and director of 2016’s critically-acclaimed biographical drama A United Kingdom, Amma Asante, will each be in conversation with outspoken and respected UK film critic Mark Kermode in the Music and Film Arena. Mark Kermode will reveal the guilty pleasures of cinema as he brings his lively and wildly popular show In 3D, that explores, critiques and dissects movies past and present with the Latitude audience.

Artist, musician and Turner-Prize winner Martin Creed will present an iconoclastic discussion of art, humour and subversion through his stage show Words and Music, whilst Bruce Parry teams up with Jon Sauven of Greenpeace to discuss his latest film TAWAI; a voice from the forest where Bruce lives with indigenous people of the world on a quest into the heart of the human conscience. The Music and Film Arena will be compered across the weekend by Maria Ruban, and will also see a performance from up and coming band, Harry Lloyd’s Waiting For Smith.

This year’s timely theme Come the Revolution will continue to be expressed through the most cutting edge scientific research and the words and wit of writers, researchers and scientists from across the UK and beyond.

Tania Harrison, Arts Curator for Latitude Festival said:
“I am delighted to present our Wellcome Trust programme at Latitude 2017. In the past four years we have worked to bring the most rigorous, engaging discussion and research to our audience. My theme for the festival this year is Come The Revolution, and in the Wellcome Trust programme I have invited scientists, speakers and artists to present discussions and shows that explore the revolutions taking place across scientific disciplines: the breakthroughs in neuroscience that will change our health, wellbeing and technologies. This is reflected in a programme that extends from The Wellcome Trust Arena and literary speakers, to theatre, film, music and pop-up experiences and testing across the site.”

Investigating the theme of wellbeing, Dr Sandy Grant (Cambridge) will be in conversation with award winning writer and photographer Will Storr, looking at individuality in the social-media age in The Age of the Individual: Playing at Being Ourselves. The Psychologist will host Prof Peter Kinderman and Prof Victoria Tischler as they discuss A manifesto for psychological health and wellbeing with Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, whilst Dr Ben Fincham (Sussex) and Dinah Bornat will explore Autonomy, freedom and playing with the rules: the rehabilitation of wellbeing.
Salon London will present two sessions on this topic; Vive le Hedoniste which explores pleasure, reward and collective joy with Prof Wolfram Schultz (Cambridge, recipient of The Brain Prize 2017) and Jules Evans (Queen Mary), and Mindfulness in The Hard Science with Doctor Willem Kukyen from Oxford Mindfulness Centre.

Will Young will lead The Art of Listening, a talk followed by a Q&A, discussing in depth the way people connect and the importance of being heard. The highly respected physical theatre company Gecko will collaborate with Suffolk MIND to explore mindfulness through an interactive workshop, based on work from their acclaimed production, Institute, and The Odditorium present Haunted Moustache: The manipulation of consciousness.

Latitude Festival will present debates and discussion on the scientific knowledge that is revolutionising ideas of health and healthcare. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen (Director, Autism Research Centre) is a world expert on autism, and will be discussing Autism and Neurodiversity with Adam Feinstein (author of A History of Autism). Dr Tony Goldstone and Dr Samantha Scholtz (Imperial) take a look at Gut Hormones in Addiction with comedian, actor and satirist Marcus Brigstocke who discusses his personal experiences with food, drugs and alcohol, and Professor Daniel M. Davis (Manchester) will be in conversation with Dr Natalie Riddell (Surrey), delving into Immunity and the Health Revolution, chaired by broadcaster, comedian and actor Robin Ince.

Latitude Festival introduces talks in the Wellcome Trust Arena and The Speakeasy investigating revolutionary technology, a festival highlight of which includes Read Your DNA Live with Salford’s Dr Joe Latimer, Dr Sarah Withers and Dr Ian Goodhead who will bring the latest portable DNA sequencing technology into the festival field for a live sequencing session. Professor Steven D Reicher (St Andrews) and Dr Jon Sutton will look at the timely concept of Crowd action for social change, political rhetoric & mass mobilisation, hosted by The Psychologist.

Salon London will present Gene Editing with Professor Johnjoe McFadden, Dr Alasdair Russell (CRISPR) and Dr Catherine Pendegrass in conversation with Helen Bagnall (Salon London) who will examine the potential of CRISPRs to revolutionise the way we interact with genes and decide, is it exciting or terrifying?
The Technology vs. Human Revolution will see Professor Steve Fuller (Warwick) and Prof Arthur I Miller (UCL) in discussion on the future of AI, chaired by Dr Daniel Glaser (Science Gallery London). Dr Tamar Makin (UCL), Dr Aldo Faisal and Dr Isabel Van De Keere (Immersive Rehab) will examine Revolutions in rehabilitation: body representation, brain organisation and virtual reality, whilst The Odditorium will present Diary of a Cell Farmer’s Abi Aspen Glenncross (Future Farm Lab) on growing meat in the laboratory using stem-cell technology and Level Up Human will record a live podcast episode at the festival with special guests Stuart Goldsmith and Giles Yeo.

Sessions exploring science and space through theatrical performance and innovative pop-ups include, Dr Kimberley Wade (Warwick) and John Higgs with Salon London presenting False Memories of Time & Place: exploring false memory in psychology, neuroscience and Art. Dr Jack Lewis and Lliana Bird will present Geek Chic Live with special guests. How I Hacked My Way Into Space will be presented by Unlimited Theatre at their Space Shed, which will also host talks on the body and medicine in space from Libby Jackson and Beth Healey, and Mark Thompson will perform The Show at the End of the Universe in The SpeakEasy. Dr James Kilner’s Science in a Van takes experimental science into the field, recreating behavioural experiments. The Sick of the Fringe will bring selected highlights to the festival, exploring the relationship between the body and the brain including Austerity Cuts, Ageing Disgracefully, FK Alexander: Recovery and Le Gateau Chocolat: Icons.