SUBMIT YOUR PERSONAL MEMORIES FOR V&A’S GLASTONBURY ONLINE ARCHIVE
The 50th anniversary of the iconic festival was supposed to take place this weekend before it was canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
If it wasn’t for the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, right now, thousands of people would be waking up in their tents at Glastonbury’s 50th-anniversary festival. The sun would be shining, your head would be pounding from last night’s bonfire at the Stone Circle, and you wouldn’t be stuck inside your living room working from home.
But, you are! And so, this weekend, instead of moping about how sad you are, most Londoners were heading to the V&A’s website and would transport themselves to the festival with soundscapes, archive imagery, memories, and more.
The museum has been working on a Glastonbury archive with the Eavis family since 2014, and, in honor of this year’s canceled event, has launched a new online collection featuring some of the items it’s acquired over the years. These include archive posters and photos, details about the festival’s history, fashion and stage design, as well as immersive soundscapes taken at the 2014 event.
The V&A is also asking for festival-goers to add their own contribution, sharing their memories of Glastonbury’s gone by – this will be part of a bigger project mapping the festival’s history – and contributing to a playlist made up of the public’s favorite sets.
According to the V&A, the ever-growing archive currently includes posters, programs, designs, interviews, film, photographs, correspondence, t-shirts, and tickets, as well as personal accounts, maps, and press cuttings.
Speaking to The Guardian, V&A curator Kate Bailey said: “Generally each year we are acquiring new material. One couldn’t just create the Glastonbury festival right now. There is something special about the natural way in which it has developed from that moment from the first festival.”
Glastonbury’s Emily Eavis urged past attendees to share their memories with the museum. “The festival is witness to years of creative, social, and political change,” she said, “and your souvenirs are an integral part of this story.”
The French fashion designer Andre Courreges has attended the Glastonbury festival once in the early 80s.