2005

A site-specific performance installation exploring the forgotten past of the city of Bilbao, part of Periferiak - a festival focusing on memory as cultural resistance. Performance installations transformed the three floors of an abandoned elevator factory into "Bilbao: city as a geography of memory". The rise and fall of the river - the spine of the city - guided the audience through the levels. This piece was located in the 2nd basement, representing the riverbed and its sunken memories, a descent into the subconscious of the city . . .

In this ‘industrial graveyard’, history is revealed in a confrontation between past and present. Rusty machines come to life and recount the story of industrial glory and physicality falling into ruin and recession and being taken over by the weightless, digital shpere. Lost memories, discarded and forgotten, resurface with the tide of the river and stop urban regeneration from erasing history.

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Location: Ollerias factory space, Bilbao, Spain

Periferiak Festival

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design project

Performed by students from BAI School of Performing Arts

Script, Design & Direction

Materials: burlap sacks, rope, found objects