Drawing on the archetypal fairytale image of a sleeping figure in a glass box, Shani’s new sculptural work, The Spell, will invoke myths of cursed or enchanted sleeps that last a hundred years, a millennium, an eternity; poisoned apples and pricked fingers that lead to suspended states of animation. Under the seemingly unbreakable spell or curse of capitalism, the figure sleeps through the warnings of present and future catastrophes, economic inequality, social breakdown, political disaster, and environmental collapse, dreaming out the violence of colonialism and its living legacies, the fairy tale of empire.
Of what does the dreamer dream? Responding to this question, the installation is accompanied by The Dream, a 24/7 radio broadcast co-curated by Shani. The online broadcast of The Dream is an invitation to dream of possible new futures and alternative pasts. It features contributions from artists, writers, thinkers, ecologists, economists, and academics on the themes of crisis, dreaming, solidarity and action. The broadcast features related discussions, readings, archival radio and sound material and new works for radio.
Lead commissions for The Dream radio broadcast include artist Cécile B Evans’ new radio adaptation of French surrealist Antonin Artaud’s play ‘A Spurt of Blood’, on what will be its 100th year anniversary; poet, musician and activist, Moor Mother (aka Camae Ayewa) develops a piece for radio which draws inspiration from the Old Testament and plays with ideas of ancestry and time; and a new experimental piece by visual artist, poet, and activist Cecilia Vicuña, features an improvisation with ongoing collaborators Ricardo Gallo, Satoshi Takeishi and Daniel Neumann, meditating on Indigenous wisdom and humanity’s possible extinction in the face of planetary crisis.
The Dream radio will be broadcast via Channel, Somerset House’s curated online space for art, ideas and the artistic process.
An accompanying programme of events will take place over the duration of The Spell or The Dream, including themed discussions inspired by the format of the late-night live television show After Dark (1987-1991), a series of Friday Lates in the courtyard, and activities for families during the summer weeks.
Curated by Somerset House Studios Director Marie McPartlin and independent researcher, curator and writer Rahila Haque. The Dream Radio is Executively produced by Alannah Chance.