[1] The festival takes place within the structure of the 19th century coastal defence, commissioning site-specific art installations and performances that respond to the fort's architecture and network of subterranean tunnels.
The festival was initially conceived in 2012 by Alastair Kemp, founder of Newhaven's Eleusinian Press, who proposed the idea to a group of Brighton-based arts and music promoters.
It was in response to East Sussex County Council announcing that Newhaven Fort would become privately run.
[4] The interested parties would form arts collective Lost Property to handle the festival's organisation.
[6] Across its three editions, the festival has presented a wide range of artists and musicians, including: Sarah Angliss, Adam Basanta, Pierre Bastien, Mike Blow, Peter Brötzmann & Steve Noble, John Chantler, Rhys Chatham, Audrey Chen, Poulomi Desai, Leslie Deere, Timothy Didymus, Graham Dunning, Max Eastley, Ex-Easter Island Head, Michael Finnissy, Limpe Fuchs, Mariska de Groot, Ian Helliwell, Daniel W J Mackenzie, Darsha Hewitt, Konk Pack, Kyoka, Joshua Le Gallienne, Grischa Lichtenberger, Liminal, Toshimaru Nakamura, Seijiro Murayama, Evan Parker, Aura Satz, Semiconductor, Tim Shaw, Plurals, The Artaud Beats, Gabey Tjon a Tham, Tetsuya Umeda, Zimoun.