This was our most productive date – producing three project proposals. The working class sea resort of Skegness on the Lincolnshire coast of the UK is undergoing severe economic depression. Kasapi and Shurelov expressed themselves to be “shocked” at seeing a completely different vision of England. They were particularly appalled by the “Amusement Arcades” – large public gambling places filled with coin-operated “fruit machines”, “one-arm-bandits” and games. In the winter season, local people spend a large part of their income on these gambling machines as they are practically the only entertainment in town.
Kasapi and Shurelov imagined the creation of a new kind of “fruit machine” which they named the Fantomat. For one coin the Fantomat will show you a story (video) and give you a dreamlike experience. The Fantomat was enthusiastically adopted by SEAS as their collective project.
In addition Kasapi also proposed his own project working with elderly people in the district since Skegness has an aging population, a common feature of sea resorts in Europe. He chose to use the music from this older generation’s youth sung by a Turkish counter tenor Nuri Harun Ates. This proposal eventually become Glorious Death.
Shurelov also proposed a public art piece – a labyrinth of trees 100 metres square in the rural coast area that would provide local artists with a space in which to exhibit and work. Although this project was not commissioned in the SEAS framework it has in fact been realised in Ljubljana by the Exodos Festival and will be officially opened in 2011.
Shurelov and Kasapi presented a Global Tour of Constanta, from the SEAS Gathering in September 2006 on Odessa Encounter (Europe Now/Europe Next)