This talk marks the premiere of The Detectorist, an ACE National Lottery-funded audio mystery-drama created by Anna Bertmark. Through an illustrative journey, the talk shares curious discoveries made during the project’s research process, including interviews with local metal detectorists, historians, and enthusiasts. Introducing the premise of The Detectoristand its themes of narrative artefacts, loss, and curiosity, we’ll explore the brief history of local metal detecting and the unique aspects of this place that shape diverse relationships with Brighton Beach. By highlighting lesser-known local events, the talk reveals how traces of life, imagination, and meaning-making blend together on the timeless edge between pebbled land and the mysterious watery horizon.
Anna Bertmark is a local, award-winning sound designer and design researcher. Her work spans film, TV and games (The Queen, God’s Own Country, Normal People). Her research focuses on the transformative power of storytelling for exploring human and non-human collaborative survival in the Anthropocene. Her Swedish great-grandfather worked as a waiter on the West Pier in the summer of 1914 in the hope of learning English, but left Brighton for home on the eve of WWI.
