For this year’s festival, Atchin Tan’s now-iconic bow-top wagon tower in the Theatre & Circus field has been painted by renowned Romani Gypsy artist Daniel Baker.
Atchin Tan offers a celebration of Romany Gypsy, Roma, Irish Traveller and Traveller cultures and a platform for cultural pride and political reflection, inviting festivalgoers to engage with a vibrant mix of artists, speakers, and performers.
This is encapsulated by Baker’s work on the tower and more widely, in which he examines the role of artistic practice in the enactment of social agency by using his art practice as both an instrument of analysis and a vehicle of interpretation.
Titled ‘Tumbling Blocks (Survival Quilt),’ his installation on the tower is made from repurposed Mylar rescue blankets.
“The ‘Tumbling Blocks’ motif that I have adapted for the Tower this year is traditionally used for creating the illusion of three-dimensionality in popular quilt making,” he says. “The effect being to represent stability and protection through the regulation and order of pattern and space.”
“By subverting the traditional design, my aim is to generate a sense of uncertainty, the unsettling nature of the new optical effect creating random illusory depths, and shifting perspectives.”
He’s right – the glistening gold and silver colour-way of the foil is striking as you approach it, the sun shining from the surface and changing its appearance subtly, and yet suddenly, as you move closer up the hill towards it.
The work is a continuation of his Emergency Artefact series of artworks, which combines his fascination with domestic art practices with key elements of the Romani Aesthetic.
He explains that “by recontextualising everyday Romani objects and design elements, these works invite viewers to discover overlooked meanings and reflect upon the lived experiences of marginalised communities. By employing the emergency materiality of the foil rescue blanket within the seemingly prosaic realm of domestic hobby craft, these objects invite us to consider the ever more precarious nature of our safety and security.”
It’s an effective approach. You move from considering the beauty of the work to its message when you finally reach it and realise the kind of material it is formed of.
Glastonbury Festival 2025 took place from 25-29 June 2025
Read our full coverage of the festival here
Daniel Baker is an artist whose eclectic methodology of making, writing and curating was developed during his PhD research into Romani aesthetics at the Royal College of Art in London.
His work has featured in Documenta 15 and Manifesta 14, as well as four editions of the Venice Biennale, both as an artist (2007, 2011, 2022) and as curator of FUTUROMA in 2019.
His work is exhibited internationally and can be found in collections worldwide. Publications include WE ROMA: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art, Ex Librs, FUTUROMA and GRT LGBTQ+ Spoken History Archive.
He was born to a Romani family in Kent and currently lives and works in London.
