2020

Digital video, sound

6:05 mins

A subterranean, elegiac mood infuses the film, which combines a spoken poem, original musical composition and layered video shot on a series of walks across the city of Brussels and at the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken. The oneiric journey moves between architectural extravagances of the 19th century, rigorous modernism and state architecture, noting the trappings of privilege and displays of power. The combination of word, music and image evokes the ghosts of colonialism and slippages of history as well as contemporary insecurities and the abolition of familiar structures on personal and international levels. It reappraises the supposed ‘glories’ of empire, incarnated in everyday objects and materials such as tea and tropical plants, in casual displays of wealth and in the currencies of international relations.

A film by Samuel Levack.

Filmed during an artist residency at Mendes Wood DM, in Brussels, Belgium, in 2019.