Make the most of final weekend of arts festival

There is still so much to experience as Coastal Currents swings into the final weekend of its unique programme of art, performance, music and conversation.
Nic Acaster - sculptor with installation on Pelham Beach for Coastal Currents 2018Nic Acaster - sculptor with installation on Pelham Beach for Coastal Currents 2018
Nic Acaster - sculptor with installation on Pelham Beach for Coastal Currents 2018

For starters there is a brand new music theatre performance by Melanie Wilson on Saturday September 29 from 7.30pm.

Live Long And Die Out with the Fuel Theatre Company combines contemporary multi-vocal music, improvisation, electronic sound and new writing to explore the impact of parenthood on the biosphere.

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This promises to be an incredible evening at the Opus Theatre, Cambridge Road, Hastings. Tickets £5 (£3 concessions) via coastalcurrents.org.uk.

Seki Dance Project returns to Hastings Museum tomorrow (Saturday) at 6 and 8pm and Sunday at 5pm. GEKKA, Under the Moon, is inspired by a 16th century Japanese Sumie painting. Tickets £5 (under 13 years free). Book by email [email protected]

At the Jerwood Gallery on Sunday, from 3pm ,prizewinning stories inspired by art works – including Manet’s Execution - are read by Joan Taylor-Rowan and guests. Tickets £8 including gallery entry and a drink.

There are plenty of visual arts events to visit this weekend. Full details in the free brochure or visit coastalcurrents.org.uk.

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For instance at the Hastings Arts Forum, Marina, nine contemporary artists explore Virginia Woolf’s “streams of consciousness” novels. Through installation, sculpture, photography, sound and video they reveal how Woolf’s themes and concerns are uncannily relevant today. Wavelengths is open daily from 11-5pm.

There is a mixed media exhibition by artist Meiso Lai at 65 Norman Road, St Leonards, open Friday and Saturday from 11-5pm and on Sunday from 1-4pm.

There is also the skeleton of a blue whale washed up on Pelham beach on Hastings seafront created by artist Nic Acaster. Nic has worked as an artist for over 25 years, starting off as a painter and sculptor before graduating to large scale projects. He built his own studio under the arches on Brighton seafront.

“I base my work on my own experiences,” he explains “and on the environment and the places I visit.”

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Sculpture is a big interest, particularly when he can use recycled materials – whether they are washed up by the sea, or found in a skip. The blue whale project, which is being shown at venues throughout the country, has come from an old fishing boat the Rosie Haze RX320. He used the oak structure, copper fittings and industrial steel to produce this free art installation.

Boats And Bones can be seen on the beach all this weekend. Visit nicacaster.com for exact location and more details.

There’s also a photography exhibition exploring beach plastic on Hastings Promenade between Rock a Nore and Grosvenor Gardens and professional designer Peter Stimpson, who works with big brand clients and record producers, asks whether design is art at 3 White Rock Gardens, daily from 10am to 5pm. By Carole Buchan.