Questioning the function of archives and their role in making experiences visible, Studios artist Deborah-Joyce Holman explores the protection to be found in silence and the act of remaining illegible or opaque. They consider both the potential of being silent and how staying so can perpetuate the conditions under which different groups are systemically oppressed. No Marigolds in Fall also engages with ideas around the location of the archive. A number of the films selected are site-specific, reflecting how place can carry or store personal and cultural meaning.
The event begins with Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz’s 2016 work Silent, filmed at Oranienplatz, Berlin where a refugee protest camp took place between 2012 to 2014. As part of the work, the artists invited musician Aérea Negrot to perform John Cage’s 1952 4’33’’— a score that instructs its performer(s) not to play their instrument. Following this, Rebecca Bellantoni’s 2023 work You Have Any Peace For Me? C.R.Y. will be shown, exploring the potential of opacity, urban architectures and spiritual life. Holman also screens LAFAWNDAH and TRUSTFALL’s 2018 short LEK, a film focusing on the audition process and the concealment involved in acting. Finally, Wu Tsang’s 2008 Shape of a right statement will be shown. In the short, Tsang looks directly into the camera and re-performs a section of ‘In My Language’, a manifesto by autism rights activist Amanda Baggs.
As part of the event, Holman invites Bellantoni to discuss her film and the broader theme of archives.
