A photo of the furniture shop House of Reeves lays on a desk, surrounded by paint stains, a stanley knife and bottle of white spirits.
Exhibition

Imran Perretta: A Riot In Three Acts

27 Sep - 10 Nov 2024
Free / Pay What You Can

We want our programme to be as accessible as possible, so this exhibition is Pay What You Can. Please consider making a donation to support the work of artists and cultural innovators.

General Opening Times

Monday 10.00 - 18.00 (last entry 17.00)
Tuesday 10.00 - 18.00 (last entry 17.00)
Wednesday 10.00 - 18.00 (last entry 17.00)
Thursday 12.00 - 21.00 (last entry 20.00)
Friday 12.00 - 21.00 (last entry 20.00)
Saturday 10.00 - 18.00 (last entry 17.00)
Sunday 10.00 - 18.00 (last entry 17.00)

Opening Time Exceptions

General exhibition opening hours differ on days where events are taking place, click here for details of the A Riot In Three Acts Live Programme

Fri 27 Sep 12.00 - 18.00 (last entry 17.00)
Sat 28 Sep 10.00 - 14.00 (last entry 13.00)
Thu 03 Oct 12.00 - 16.00 (last entry 15.00)
Thu 17 Oct 12.00 - 16.00 (last entry 15.00)
Fri 18 Oct 13.00 - 21.00 (last entry 20.00)
Fri 25 Oct 12.00 - 18.00 (last entry 17.00)
Sat 26 Oct 10.00 - 14.00 (last entry 13.00)
Wed 30 Oct 10.00 - 16.00 (last entry 15.00)
Lancaster Rooms
New Wing

A new commission by Somerset House Studios resident Imran Perretta using sound, sculpture and performance. Evolving from his experience as a young person during the London Riots in 2011, the work explores the narratives of our urban spaces, and the social inequality and racial violence that shape them.

Trigger Warning: this exhibition and its description include references to rioting, racism and police brutality.

A Riot In Three Acts
is a large-scale installation using the tropes and techniques of cinema, in the form of an expansive film set and cinematic score, to consider riots and civil uprisings that have occurred in response to systemic injustice experienced by marginalised communities. The exhibition provides a stage for the complex narratives that accompany such collective actions directed against the state, often spurred by racist policing, social deprivation, youth disenfranchisement and anti-war sentiment. 
 
Researched and developed at Somerset House Studios over the course of two years, the work evolves from Perretta’s experience as a young person during the London Riots in 2011, initially a response to police violence, which became a national uprising brought on by an age of endless austerity.
 
A Riot in Three Acts opens with Perretta’s old Blackberry handset on which he received broadcast messages during the days of the London Riots; the now-defunct Blackberry Messenger (BBM) platform was a key communication tool as one of the first end-to-end encrypted messaging services. The burning imagery presented on the handset is emblematic of the five days of civil uprising in cities across the country, following the shooting of Mark Duggan, an unarmed Black man, by police in Tottenham on 4 August 2011. 
 
In the main space, a film set, consisting of a painted scenic backdrop and props, replicates Reeves Corner as it exists today — a fenced-off area of disused scrubland, a site of highly contested land which could be found in any UK city. After over a decade of socioeconomic turmoil and the systematic erosion of public space and resources, Reeves Corner sits as one of many examples of a privately owned, suburban wasteland, forever awaiting (re)development, itself now an unofficial point of congregation for local people. 
 
The cinematic score, A Requiem for the Dispossessed, composed by Perretta, arranged by William Newell, and co-commissioned and performed by Manchester Camerata, draws on the classical tradition of a requiem and serves as a sonic representation of a civil uprising and its aftermath. Presented in spatialised surround sound by producers and fellow Somerset House Studios residents Call and Response, the installation mirrors the experience of cinema sound, locating the audience at the centre of the action.  
 
The exhibition includes a programme of live performances, events and a 5-day workshop for aspiring creatives aged 16-19, and will be accompanied by a special edition of The Process podcast, hosted by Imran Perretta.
 
We’re sensitive to the fact that while this subject matter is important to explore, it may be triggering for many audiences, and contains scenes that directly impact communities who are dealing with both the ongoing impact of systematic injustice and the impact of the riots today. Therefore, our experienced visitor experience staff will be on hand to advise visitors of support opportunities and can also direct you towards a decompression room that is available on site for any audience members who may feel triggered by the work. For further support, we’d also like to highlight the following resources:

Healing Justice https://healingjusticeldn.org

Resist and Renew https://resistrenew.com

Radical Therapist Network: https://www.radicaltherapistnetwork.com  

The Black, African and Asian Network (BAATN): https://www.baatn.org.uk

About Imran Perretta

Imran Perretta is a Somerset House Studios artist. Questions around power and identity formation underpin Peretta’s work in a post-9/11 world marked by austerity, state-sponsored Islamophobia, and the War on Terror. Recent exhibitions, screenings and performances include tears of the fatherland, Secession, Vienna (2024), The Condition of Being Addressable, ICA LA (2022), SUROOR for CTM Festival, Berlin and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2022), the destructors, Spike Island, Bristol, Chisenhale Gallery, London, the Whitworth, Manchester and BALTIC, Gateshead (2020-21) and Rotterdam International Film Festival; AMRA (in collaboration with Paul Purgas) for Art Night London, (2020-21).

Imran was a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Artist Award in 2023 and was named a Turner Prize Bursary recipient in 2020.

About Manchester Camerata 

Manchester Camerata is the UK’s most relentlessly pioneering orchestra, constantly paving the way of what a 21st century orchestra should be. Led by its visionary Music Director, Gábor Takács-Nagy, and its artistic partners, Manchester Camerata has toured internationally, performing in the world's most iconic concert venues with the greatest artists in classical music.

Based at the Monastery in Gorton, Manchester, the Camerata sees a vibrant and exciting future for classical music, investing in the next generation of musicians in the north with its Camerata 360° Ruth Sutton Fellowship programme.

Manchester Camerata believes that music has the power to change the lives of people and transform the prospects of places. Find out more at manchestercamerata.co.uk/about-us

A Riot In Three Acts (2024) is commissioned and developed in residence by Somerset House Studios. A Requiem for the Dispossessed (2024) is co-commissioned by Somerset House Studios and the Manchester Camerata, by arrangement with NEWFORM MUSIC. Supported by d&b audiotechnik’s Soundscape.