By Kate Flurrie, Collusion Associate Artist
In development
Artist and filmmaker Kate Flurrie’s Longshore is an immersive 360° work that takes audiences beneath the surface of the North Sea to experience the Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds, one of Europe’s most ecologically significant Marine Protected Areas. The concept and R&D for the project has developed over the past three years, nurtured through Collusion’s Living in Changing Landscapes programme, which led to a 12 month Research Fellowship with Norwich University of the Arts. Longshore is currently sourcing funding to enable it to move into production and delivery.
The Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds lie just offshore from the Norfolk coast, but for most people they are invisible, accessible only to experienced divers and only during a narrow window each summer when sea conditions allow. Using 8K 360° underwater footage captured at the reef, Longshore enables audiences to experience this hidden world, building public awareness, and asking what collective care and conservation could mean for the future of this rare habitat.
Longshore grew from Collusion’s Living in Changing Landscapes (LICL) programme in partnership with Norwich University of the Arts, Anglia Ruskin University and The Broads Authority, which invited artists to participate in a series of research labs from July 2023, exploring community engagement approaches and emerging immersive tools including 360° LED walls, ambisonic sound, projection domes, and volumetric capture. This R&D supported the development of the artists’ proposals for large-scale immersive artworks and experiences that considered the climate impact on Norfolk and the Fen’s natural landscapes.
Kate’s proposal focussed on a vision to film the chalk beds for the first time in 360°, combining footage of the reef with community voices, local fishing traditions, and speculative futures imagined with local people. Kate was one of three artists selected to undertake a Research Fellowship with Norwich University of the Arts Institute for Creative Technologies from Oct 2024 – Oct 2025, giving her access to the Immersive Visualisation & Simulation Lab (IVSL), academic expertise, and peer exchange with the wider cohort of LICL fellows, to develop the proposal.
A selection of the underwater 360° footage captured for Longshore was first presented as a work-in-progress in large scale 360° form at Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2025. Subsequently, in Virtual Reality 360° video form, at Collusion’s ART // TECH // PLAY Producers’ Event in February 2026 and at an ART // TECH // PLAY LIVE event at Norwich University of the Arts’ IVSL in March 2026.
Collusion has supported Kate with creative technology and production mentoring including working with the 360° cylindrical screen at Norwich University of the Arts’ IVSL, exploring how the footage performs at scale and subsequently exploring different modes of presentation including Virtual and Mixed Reality. We are continuing to support Kate to explore and prototype VR/MR and screen installation formats for the work as well as fundraising.
In 2026, the project was awarded funding from Norfolk & Suffolk Culture Board Environment and Place Seed Fund, which supports innovative ideas and projects which build awareness of and/or deliver actions in cultural environmental responsibility.
Artists
Kate Flurrie
Kate is an artist and filmmaker based in Ipswich whose practice explores immersive technology, documentary storytelling, and environmental themes. She joined Collusion’s Living in Changing Landscapes programme in 2023 and held a Research Fellowship with the Institute for Creative Technologies at Norwich University of the Arts Oct 2024 – Oct 2025. Her work sits at the intersection of moving image, emerging technology, and place, building connections between audiences and landscapes that are often inaccessible or overlooked.
