The Smoke that Thunders - Which Heritage is at Risk?​

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Project Introduction: Whether we want it or not, we have inherited statues, monuments and memorials that stand today in many European cities glorifying the past. They commemorate colonial and imperial rulers - individuals responsible for the repression of peoples and communities around the globe - and events seen and described through the gaze of victors and old hegemonic powers. In order to re-imagine our public spaces and demand justice, we need to challenge this element of the public realm and engage together in reshaping our memories and our futures.

 

The Smoke that Thunders - Which Heritage is at Risk? focuses on the South African War Memorial (erected in 1908, Newcastle upon Tyne), and the current conversations about its future re-contextualisation. The work questions the idea of ‘heritage at risk’, by considering the stories that were not embedded in these objects installed in public spaces and held in archives. 

The Smoke that Thunders - Which Heritage is at Risk? was created during an artist residency between October - November 2021 at the D6: Culture in Transit studios with Marcio Carvalho (Portugal), Dimitris Chimonas (Cyprus) and Mónica Rikić (UK). D6, the lead partner on the CONTESTED DESIRES programme, is based in Newcastle, UK. The residency followed the CONTESTED DESIRES UK Assembly, a capacity building event exploring the role of arts, culture and heritage in defining who we are and interrogating the ways national identities are crafted in the context of colonialism.

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Biography: Marcio Carvalho is an artist and contemporary art curator. His projects are primarily focused on collective technologies and practices of remembering, and examine public life and archives, autobiographical memory and collective memory. He uses performance art as a process-based practice and a tool to examine representational memories that are embedded in different urban and private settings. He holds Masters degrees in Performing Arts from HZT/ UDK Berlin and in Visual Arts from the Escola Superior de Artes e Design (Portugal.) He has collaborated and presented his art work across Africa, Europe, North and South America.

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View The Smoke that Thunders - Which Heritage is at Risk?​  here: