In summer 2019, selina bonelli undertook a series of site-specific performances at fallen sound mirrors across the Kent coast. These sonic remains are physical manifestations of pre-war tensions and fears – initially built to provide defence, they are now succumbing to elemental erosive forces along the coasts of England. As relics of an early warning system that never came to fruition, their failure to serve their intended function could be seen to occupy the space of a fossilised mourning for a future that never came.
This was also the time where we saw the rise of Fascism and far right ideologies that eventually became the dominant voice in Europe; a time not dissimilar to the one we are facing now.
What would it look like to be accountable for our failures and carry them into the present, to discuss the eroded memories and fears that are scattered, forgotten and fallen across the south and north-eastern landscape of the UK?
Could these visible fallen silenced concretions of fears and longing (for protection) help us open up the conversations around the cyclical and tidal nature of our histories and help us think about new ways of being and belonging that are built on difference and diversity?
Biography
In their work selina uses artefacts, unwanted hand me downs, worthless heirlooms that carry value through meaning, action and ‘rememberings’ (offered memories) and the language of performance to interrogate meaning, power and our collective social realities.
www.selinabonelli.wordpress.com
(re)collecting (f)ears was shot and edited by Matt Mahoney-Page. The project was produced in partnership with ]performance s p a c e [, Whitstable Biennale and Well Street Projects, with support from Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants.
Credits
ABBOTT’S CLIFF SOUND MIRROR, SELINA BONELLI, WITH ]PERFORMANCE S P A C E[, FOLKESTONE. IMAGE BY ANA ESCOBAR
About LADA Screens
LADA Screens is a series of free, online screenings of seminal performance documentation, works to camera, short films/video and archival footage. It is part of Live Online, LADA’s dedicated space where you can watch short videos and films drawn from LADA’s Study Room or generated through our programmes and initiatives.
Each screening will be available to view for a limited time only, and will be launched with a live event at our space in Bethnal Green, London.
LADA Screens is curated by the Live Art Development Agency (LADA). LADA is a ‘Centre for Live Art’: a knowledge centre, a production centre for programmes and publications, a research centre setting artists and ideas in motion, and an online centre for digital experimentation, representation and dissemination.
