Outernet London
"Outernet London is an entertainment, arts and culture district opened in 2022 in the West End of London. In an article in The Times newspaper in 2023, it claimed to be "London's most visited tourist attraction". It is the largest digital exhibition space in Europe with the "world's largest LED screen deployment". - Wikipedia
"This year at Outernet we are proud to celebrate Black History Month with a series of immersive experiences and exhibitions that shine a light on Black joy, innovation, and history. Throughout the month we will be showcasing a range of pieces that aim to educate, inspire, and reclaim narratives across The Now Building and Now Trending".
W.A.T.C.H.I.N
‘We Are The Culture Happening In Neighbourhoods’
- is a short art film that explores how Black music has been used as a way for us to transcend dark environments.When the English language fails us our body language seldom does.
From Africa to the Caribbean to Britain and anywhere else you look, you’ll find us embodying and converting the soundwave into movement which sucks us into a portal of bliss where the environment disappears and all that’s left is our physical, emotional and spiritual connection to each other and the sonics pumping through the speakers.
The film opens with three dancers seated in chairs, trying to break free. The chairs represent a state of struggle, holding them back from "taking a stand." The first character is incarcerated, struggling to free his body but starting to free his mind.
Gangsta Rap, Drill Music, Grime...There’s a reason why these violent diaries resonate with people who will never step foot in the environment. There’s a certain inner light that being in a dark place gives us, there’s a certain raw emotion that pain allows us to capture, beautiful because its imperfect, honest and human. In the film, Prof Julian Henriques shares an idea from Jacques Attali, a French economist and philosopher. He argues: music anticipates political and societal change. The Voice Over meets the visuals showing the second character incarcerated, a visual question that asks, if music has such a power, what is our present trying to tell us about our future.
The second character represents our ability to connect with the vibrations enough to escape the inner turmoil; even momentarily. I’ve never seen Granma depressed. She presses play then fries until golden brown. Pours until the ancestors say stop. Knits until she’s certain we’re warm. Its almost like she’d welcome the grey clouds to stitch in a silver lining that coordinates with her pearls just to two-step memories into those intergenerational classics that pour out of speakers up and down Brixton market.
I remember the undertone of oppression, I remember the look of depression on a lot of faces around me vividly which always seemed to disappear when someone pressed play. It might be a subconscious thing. I think mental health goes unspoken in the Black community because we’ve developed soo many different genres to help lift our spirits.
Towards the end of the film, the woman is the first to take a stand. This is a metaphor for what happens when we take time to fully embody our creativity. Rather than focusing on our immediate environment we turn the focus inwards and artistic expression comes out which helps us transcend what is being felt. The film ends on the opposite spectrum in which it started, the three characters are up and dancing together. Embracing the moment, embracing the music, embracing each other and letting body language do the talking.
The film is being shown at the Outernet in Tottenham court road station until 27 October in the company of other art films that challenge perceptions and push the art of storytelling forward. See here for more detail:
www.outernet.com/#on-screen (click browse by show)