The Red Carpet - documentation from performance at 'Response', October 2010

Just edited a short clip from the documentation of 'The Red Carpet', which was performed during 'Response' at Landgaurd Fort last October. The work was made specifically for the gun corridor in the fort and lasted for approximately 2 hours.

The red cape/carpet was made by Jo Brossman.

'Response' at Landguard Fort - Palimpsest (Scar)

I am developing a new performance work for 'Response', an event taking place in October at Landguard Fort, an English Heritage site on Felixstowe Harbour in Suffolk. Responding to the site, a stronghold, the work will approach themes of power, dominance and submission - referencing the king - the red cape of Caesar and domestic work, service and repair. Simultaneously healing and inflicting - smoothing over and opening an old wound.

I am interested in using the corridor spaces of the fort - the veins and arteries of the building. I am working with the title Palimpsest (Scar). The work will explore the idea of writing and re-writing, covering and revealing, the fort itself has undergone a number of architectural additions over the years, being re-written in stone. I have been thinking about the history of the place, a military history, battles fought by men, written in words on pages, now re-enacted - what is really told? What is lost? 

Unfolding, slowly, moving backwards and forwards in time, a welcoming and a warning, soft underfoot - a red carpet - a red river.