Inspired by the technological pioneering of previous inhabitants, HAPPIDROME is a space for free roaming artistic inquiry; a place to work together, to experiment, take risks, succeed and fail. It’s a field laboratory for experiments in light and magic, stealth and shadow, noise and silence, infrared and ultraviolet, channelling the pioneering spirit of WW2 radar science and the stratospheric ambitions of the satellite era.

Programmes on-site take place from May-September. There’s curated work, artists working on-site and writers to document and interrogate the process and happ(i)nings, which will be broadcast via the web. Talks and events by artists, scientists, writers and curators, open sessions and audience interaction are publicised online.

Events open to the public are of a relatively short duration, ranging from a day to two weeks. Buildings are only open during events. Artworks of longer durations will be sited outside on the Downs. Online activities take place year round.

HAPPIDROME is FOR acronyms, jargon, radar, the electromagnetic spectrum, levitation, rambling, cryptography, invisibility, radio, analogue devices, bicycles, valves, paper tape, undersea cables, morse code, ASCII, maths, dark matter, lists, bureaucracy and other imponderables.