R — REBECCA DANDREA
S — SILVIA GRONAU
WHY DO YOU FEEL IT’S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER DISUSED SPACES?
S: When a space is disused it is seen and felt as dead. A disused space is a live space and a rich resource of information for a city and its inhabitants. It's "emptiness" is there to inform what we have collectively abandoned and forgotten.
R: I feel that an object or a space, when abandoned, regains a symbolic quality in a more apparent manner, suggesting a different way of perceiving it, that enables to experience its presence beyond its functional quality. It offers a breathing space, containing layers of narratives that sometimes break, interrupt or simply end their cycle, becoming available to be re-imagined. By remembering, contemplating, and creatively resonating with them we have an opportunity to access and dialogue with hidden layers of understanding, and have a chance to question an overall sense of direction about our current use of spaces.
WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR THE PROJECT COME FROM?
R: For my MA project Tracing Invisible Identities I investigated how, by cultivating an attentive state towards our environment, we can trigger ‘implicit’ (subconscious and unconscious) memories in the body, that in their unravelling give rise to impulses for movement which holds a specific quality. When I saw the poster about Reconnecting Bristol by Paper Arts I went to one of the first meetings proposed by Grace Kress, and danced in a dis-used place. I immediately thought that this could be an opportunity for us [Silvia Carderelli Gronau and Holly Thomas] to get together and explore our mutual interests, and where I could bring to a new context the modality of investigation that I worked on in London.
WHAT ASPECT OF RECONNECTING BRISTOL DO YOU RESONATE WITH THE MOST?
S: The process of visiting the sites and paying attention to what is there within a group of artists, being inspired by each other's relationship with the sites and collectively activating the site.
R: I think that the theme of re-inhabiting and re connecting disused spaces has accompanied me in various aspects of my life. I was born in Bussana Vecchia International Community of Artists in Italy. This community is situated in an abandoned village which was left by its original inhabitants after an earthquake had destroyed most of the buildings. After more than 70 years a group of artists decided to occupy it and gradually restore it to create a creative community, totally shifting its previous socio-cultural identity. I feel connected to the landscape of the village as well as to its history, as it shaped my first perspective about the world.
> During this project did anything occur that you weren’t expecting?
S: I guess that the project is still evolving in me, I have been, since involved in the project, paying attention to what apparently is not present and that has been a wonderful discovery of how much we don't see and relate with.
A — DDARK
A — TOM (PARAGON)
A — SAM (PARAGON)
DDARK TO SAM: HAVE TO LISTEN TO ONE SONG FOREVER OR NEVER BE ABLE TO LISTEN TO A SONG YOU LOVE TWICE?
Sam: Wait… I don’t know what that means… to have to listen to one song… or never be able to listen to a song… so I just pick a song I want to listen to forever?
(someone explains)
Sam: Oh right. Do I still pick a song or just say which one? (laughs) ask me another one
Ddark: What is your 2016 jam?
Sam: I’m going to say our track 2Bad (laughs). I’ve been listening to it a lot and I’m still listening to it and enjoying it.
TOM TO DDARK: WHERE WOULD YOUR DREAM PLACE TO PERFORM BE?
Ddark: Erm, dream place. Interesting question, got me thinking with that one. Dream place… would have been good if there was a few options (laughs)
Sam: How about Madison Square Garden or somewhere like that?
Ddark: Yeah, but I see that like that’s going to happen anyway, I don’t see that as a dream. Like, a dream place would be in the clouds and everyone has their own cloud and chilling in the cloud (all burst out laughing). That might be it, with like planes flying by (laughs).
DDARK TO TOM AND SAM: IN AN IDEAL SITUATION WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR MUSIC TO TAKE YOU?
Sam: To Ddark’s dream place (all burst out laughing)
Ddark: Jeeeeez yeah that’s what I’m talking about! (fist pumps Sam and Tom)