The Neverending Glen: Beneath The Surface

Here in the sprawling forest, you’ll find babbling brooks, stunning viewpoints, densely green foliage, thousand-year-old trees, glades and waterfalls which are the backdrop to a collection of artworks which have been growing since 2016. The trail features a compelling mix of Residency artists, commissioned contributors, and returning favourites, each presenting site-specific works responding to this year’s theme, Beneath The Surface.

This theme for the 2026 The Neverending Glen celebrates the joy of collective experiences, illustrating the invisible networks that hold forests and societies together: the delicate webs that connect trees to fungi, and people to each other. It’s a space for discovery, reflection, and playful subversion — celebrating what thrives unseen. Beneath the Surface draws inspiration from both — the forest’s hidden biology and the pulsing community of the festival — revealing what unfolds when the secret systems of nature meet the boundless potential of human imagination.

This theme invites you to think of Kelburn not as a series of stages, but as a living ecosystem — where art, environment, and community nourish one another. Beneath the music and laughter, there’s a deeper resonance: a profound call to gather in awareness, to slow down, listen, and notice the hidden structures that sustain our lives. 

The Neverending Glen is open from 9am to 9pm from Friday to Sunday. Come prepared with water, supplies, and leave no trace. Be kind to the forest, and it will remember.