In Portsmouth, the forgotten bandstand in Victoria Park is being revived in a stunning new way.
The Storm Cone, an immersive digital artwork by artist Laura Daly, lets visitors explore the site using their personal devices through augmented reality and sound.
Featuring original music by composer Lucy Pankhurst and eight sound pieces by Daly, the experience allows users to walk around a life-sized virtual bandstand, right where the original once stood.
Using The Storm Cone free app on a phone or tablet, visitors will experience the last musical performance of an interwar brass band and trace the journeys of the departed musicians through the eight sound works.
The Storm Cone was originally commissioned by the University of Salford Art Collection and Metal, revealing the lost bandstands of Peel Park, Salford and Chalkwell Park, Southend in 2021.
It has now been transported to the city as part of Portsmouth City Council’s restoration and revitalisation of Victoria Park as the ‘People’s Park’, made possible by a £2.4m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Council Leader Cllr Steve Pitt said: “The bandstand was an original feature of Victoria Park when it opened in 1878 as the first public park for the people of Portsmouth. Bandstands were hugely popular attractions in Victorian Britain, but like many others, Portsmouth’s was lost sometime before the outbreak of the Second World War.
“This new art and sound experience is a truly unique way of uncovering Victoria Park’s lost bandstand and learning about their cultural significance to life at the time.”
The Storm Cone was recently a finalist for the prestigious international Lumen Art Prize. It charts a story of loss, celebration, human strength and fragility.
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