The Past is a Foreign Country
The Past is a Foreign Country sees a variety of projects come together; Somewhere North of Here, Lies My Parents Told Me and The Remix.
Somewhere North of Here
Performance
There’s an unprecedented pride in being from the North. But sometimes that pride becomes dangerous. In the early hours of the 24th June 2016, the world changed. With the result of the UK’s EU referendum, many people began to reconsider their feelings towards where they are from. Somewhere North of Here looks at the cycles of political behaviour throughout history, how a Northerner once ran North and is now noticing others running behind her. It tracks a history that keeps repeating itself, asking why, when the world around us takes a dramatic turn, do we always run North?
Since 2011, Gemma has been choreographing to words, rather than music. Somewhere North of Here uses interviews and news broadcasts as a soundtrack. Gemma has used blindfolded improvisations that allow for full concentration on the words. The piece is performed to a configuration of seats, inspired by the compass. The audience arrange themselves based on how far north they were born. Gemma interacts with “northerners” and “southerners”, playing out experiences of moving across borders.
Lies My Parents Told Me
Performance
The current state of global affairs make today an opportune time to consider that the world is not what we thought it was when we were young. One of the issues with our distorted view of the world, lies in the stories that our parents told us; the advice they gave. Some of these words now ring sourly false. Lies My Parents Told Me investigates the generation gaps that grow wider everyday; how the words our parents used to keep us safe are no longer relevant in today’s world. This piece discusses the issues raised in Somewhere North of Here at a more personal level.
Formed solely of spoken word and movement performed live by Gemma, macro becomes micro in the second half of this double bill. The script has been created through Gemma’s method of The Remix - Over 10,000 words were generated through writing exercises and interviews with others, but just over 1,000 words made it into the show. Five different artists were given the task of remixing different sets of words together to create the script.
The Past is a Foreign Country
Immersive Space
An immersive space accompanies this double bill of performances. The production and set up of these art works have been inspired by Gemma’s practice in The Remix. Through this practice, Gemma engages in re-workings of existing works, objects and text to create new pieces. The Past is a Foreign Country exhibition brings Gemma’s hip hop research and the performances of Somewhere North of Here and Lies My Parents Told Me together through a collection of broken, graffitied bookcases, a live bibliography to share knowledge of the issues discussed in each project, the display of visual art works, publications and an invitation for the audience to remix some of the words rejected from the performances.
TOUR DATES
Following a 12 show run at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (Dundee) in August 2017, The Past is a Foreign Country is now available for touring.
Please note, the exhibition, performances and publications contain strong language and political content.
Photos by Ian Abbott.