HOME have announced a forthcoming exhibition A Riot in Three Acts by artist by filmmaker and composer Imran Perretta
The work within the exhibition uses sound, sculpture, and performance to reflect on the narratives of our urban spaces and the social inequality and racial violence that shape them.
A Riot in Three Acts is a large-scale installation using the tropes and techniques of cinema, in the form of an expansive film set and cinematic score, to consider riots and civil uprisings that have occurred in response to systemic injustice experienced by marginalised communities.
The exhibition provides a stage for the complex narratives that accompany such collective actions directed against the state, often spurred by racist policing, social deprivation, youth disenfranchisement and anti-war sentiment.
The film set, consisting of a painted scenic backdrop and props replicates Reeves Corner as it exists today — a fenced-off area of disused scrubland. The site remains a piece of highly contested land, representing at once a memorial ground to a historic family business, a haunting reminder of a community’s righteous anger, and the death of a dream for change and the end of austerity.
After a decade of socioeconomic turmoil and the systematic erosion of public space and resources, it sits as one of many examples of a privately owned, suburban wasteland, forever awaiting (re)development, itself now an unofficial point of congregation for local people, a neglected location that could be in any UK city.
Originally commissioned by and developed in residence at Somerset House Studios in London, the work evolves from Perretta’s experience as a young person during the UK riots in 2011. Initially a response to police violence in London, the riots became a national uprising brought on by an age of endless austerity, quickly spreading to Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and beyond.
Listings:
Imran Perretta: A Riot in Three Acts
Exhibition dates: Sat 22 Feb – Sun 8 Jun
Manchester Camerata performances: Fri 28 Feb and Wed 9 Apr
A Riot in Three Acts was originally presented at Somerset House Studios and curated by Rahila Haque from Fri 27 Sep – Sun 10 Nov 2024.
