Pestival is an international arts festival dedicated to ‘the art of being an insect'. Pestival won the 2010 Observer Ethical Award in Conservation, and had a three year residency at ZSL London Zoo. It has attracted world-renowned insect experts as well as artists, such as

Bob and Roberta Smith Patrick Brill (born 1963), better known by his pseudonym Bob and Roberta Smith, is a British contemporary artist, writer, author, musician, art education advocate, and keynote speaker. He is known for his "slogan" art, is an associate professor ...

, and comedians, most notably

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

, Robin Ince and

Stewart Lee Stewart Graham Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English comedian, screenwriter, and television director. His stand-up routine is characterised by repetition, internal reference, deadpan delivery, and consistent breaking of the fourth wall. Lee b ...

(who mentions his involvement in his stand-up act "41st Best Stand-up Ever").

Background

Pestival is the brainchild of Bridget Nicholls. She came up with the idea in 2004 after going to an insect film festival called FIFI in the Pyrenees (defunct).

Pestivals by year

Pestival 2006

Pestival 2006 was held at the

London Wetland Centre WWT London Wetland Centre is a wetland reserve managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the Barnes area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest London, England, by Barn Elms. The site is formed of four disused Victorian re ...

in Barnes,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Over 10,000 people attended. It was co-produced along with Mark Pilkington.

Pestival 2009

Pestival 2009 was held at the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

in London. With 200,000 people attending over three days, it had over 50 free interactive events and numerous experts at the cutting edge of art and science, and was supported by over 260 volunteers. It featured Blur’s

Graham Coxon Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Cox ...

singing insect anthems, Robin Ince’s Bee Comedy Night, an interspecies choir
Softroom Architects
iconi
Termite Pavilion
artist-in-residenc
Noboru Tsubaki
live mosquito swarms, Praying Mantis Kung Fu,

’s Mobile Brownfield Site, insect detectives, maggots who paint, a pollinator themed slow food market, and

Valerie Singleton Valerie Singleton (born 9 April 1937) is an English television and radio presenter best known as a regular presenter of the popular children's series ''Blue Peter'' from 1962 to 1972. She also presented the BBC Radio 4 '' PM'' programme for t ...

spinning her favourite insect seven inch. Chris Watson, a sound recordist who specialises in Natural History, and former member of Cabaret Voltaire provided the soundtrack to the Termite Pavilion as well as creating an evening called Cross Pollination that used live voice and the sound of bees. Pestival 2009 also hosted the symposium ''How insect are we?'' at ZSL London Zoo, chaired by

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...

editor Roger Highfield. Speakers included Stanford University ant expert

Deborah Gordon Deborah M. Gordon (born December 30, 1955) is a biologist, appointed as a professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University. Major research Gordon studies ant colony behavior and ecology, with a particular focus on red harvester ...

, artist/engineer

Natalie Jeremijenko Natalie Jeremijenko (born 1966) is an artist and engineer whose background includes studies in biochemistry, physics, neuroscience and precision engineering. She is an active member of the net.art movement, and her work primarily explores t ...

and literary critic Steven Connor.Time Out says
2009-08-26

Notes

External links