Events organised by the State of Seething - the Seething Festival, Ski Sunday, and more - have long provoked curiosity among unsuspecting Surbiton residents.

Now researchers at University College London (UCL) have taken an academic interest, dispatching PhD student David Jeevendrampillai on forays to Surbiton over two years to contribute to the Adaptable Suburbs project.

Seething relics have been put on display in the university's anthropology department as the social aspect of a project that investigates how buildings shape suburban communities.

Mr Jeevendrampillai, 32, said: "I was really interested in not just the events themselves but the commitment that people gave to them, and essentially what it meant to be someone who was working on creating this sense of community.

"What they're trying to do is reimagine the suburbs as this sort of playground."

In the exhibition Seething objects have been paired with similar ones from around the world.

Mr Jeevendrampillai added: "The idea is that we draw comparisons from the Seething objects with objects from UCL's material culture collection. This collection contains a rich range of objects from around the world."

The King's Spoon, from the King's Soup event that follows Ski Sunday, has been paired with a ritual Zimbabwean spoon, Mr Jeevendrampillai said.

An open day for Surbiton residents, along with a presentation about the exhibition, will be held at the anthropology department at 14 Taviton Street, London, on Saturday, March 14, from 2pm to 4pm.

  • The Seething Festival will be held on Sunday, March 1. For more information, visit seethingwells.org.