Imran Perretta: A Riot in Three Acts
Exhibition
Last chance to see

Imran Perretta: A Riot In Three Acts

27 Sep - 10 Nov 2024
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)

 

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 by artist, filmmaker and composer Imran Perretta, considering the interconnected narratives around riots, civil uprisings and the systemic injustices that spur such collective actions directed against the state. Using the tropes and techniques of cinema, the exhibition unfolds through sound, sculpture and performance, addressing the drama of riots in relation to the alienation of communities and public spaces in decline.

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 the police shooting of Mark Duggan, an unarmed Black man, which became a national uprising accelerated by widespread discontent towards brutal austerity policies. The exhibition is imagined around Reeves Corner in Croydon, a symbolic site of the riots, which provides a stage to remember ongoing cycles of pain and unrest caused by racist policing, social deprivation, youth disenfranchisement and anti-war movements.

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 to some audiences. Our visitor experience team have been briefed to direct visitors who may feel triggered by the work to the quiet room located near the exhibition; a separate, dedicated space to reflect, with suggested resources for help and support. 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 by and developed in residence at Somerset House Studios. The score, 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.