HOME

HOME, a place where to bring up your old memories.
HOME, a place where to create new memories.

HOME is an installation that grows little by little, by adding what I call "constellations of homes": a very simple structure that represents the different places where each one of us has lived from birth until now.

The sculpture was built during the course of EU IMMIGRANTS EU CITIZENS festival. At the beginning, there was only my constellation laying on the floor of Ugly Duck, an empty old building in South London. The performance was the opportunity to invite the audience to sit around the structure, hear about my journey, and look back into their memories. While they bring up the places where they have lived and write them down on a piece of paper, I would build their constellations next to mine. HOME shows the individuality of each path but also the correspondences with the others; all paths end in the "here and now": at home.

The only source of light in the space is a light-bulb hanging from the ceiling and pointing to the centre of the installation. The farest, the darkest: from the past, the distance, the old memories, we get closer to the light, the present, the pleasant heat, home.

Blue bits of Plasticine represent the homes, all of them connected by wood skewers. This soft modelling material reminds us of our capacity to adapt and make a new place feel like home.

And finally, Europe: a place of freedom of movement, inclusive and built by the ensemble.

HOME was part of EU Immigrants EU Citizens - Chapter 3: A building, a Pre-Referendum Participatory Performance devised and produced by Performing Architectures - Andreas Skourtis.

EU Immigrants EU Citizens Chapter 3: A building is the final part of a performance project that aims to raise awareness -of and widen the dialogue - around EU immigration through participatory performances in which different architecture are used as scenographic metaphors. A diverse team of EU-born London-based artists creates a composition of short site-responsive performances, a spatial journey in different parts of the building that ends in a ground-floor "forum" where participants are able to create their own referendum-questions and "vote" on questions created by the others.

Produced by Performing Architectures
Participating artists: Andreas Skourtis, Christina Kapadocha, Shanna May Breen, Elena Hadjiafxendi, Fiona Breen, Mikko Karhu, Vivianna Chiotini, Francesc Serra, Maria Yerosimou, Silvia Cerrada Jimenez, Maria Koutsouna, Martin Juul Sorensen.
With the support of Ugly Duck and Royal Central School of speech and Drama.
Presented at Ugly Duck (49, Tanner Street). London, 18-19 June 2016