INSTALLATIONS darc night
BELONGING(S) formalighting & Arup
The concept of BELONGING(S) began as an exploration of the meaning of Christmas. For the privileged among us, this often means time with family and friends, feasting, gifts and general togetherness. In cruel contrast to this, for many others this time will be spent torn apart from loved ones, being uprooted, fleeing their homes and making dangerous journeys in hopes of finding a safe place to settle. BELONGING(S) is an inverted Christmas tree of suspended items twinkling in the glowing light like festive decorations, coloured red, gold and green. On closer inspection of the items, we see that they are not decorations but functional and personal pieces; watches, photos, passports,
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keys, bottles, wallets, teddy bears, coins, toothbrushes and jewellery. Above them looms the silhouette of a boat as though viewed from underwater. The installation invites viewers to consider an inversion of the conventional meanings of Christmas; those for whom this time won’t mean togetherness, resting and feasting but rather separation, struggle and danger. The items represented in the installation were taken from a film created by the UN Refugee Agency based on the poem What They Took With Them by Jenifer Toksvig, inspired by firsthand testimonies from refugees forced to flee their homes and the items they took with them.
Design: Arup (Aliki Vaina, Ashleigh Dolan, Lauren Blow, Sara Ramos, Tina Wikstrom) Sponsor: formalighting (Sharon Maghnagi, Pietro Filippo Ferrara, Mark Cunningham, Michael Monsenego, Eugenio Romano Scotti) Equipment: formalighting Moto-Terraluce On-Ground RGBW