A Riot in Three Acts is a cinematic exploration of civil uprising at HOME

A new large-scale installation coming to HOME will combine sound, sculpture and performance to reflect on the narratives of our urban spaces, social inequality and racial violence.

A Riot in Three Acts comes from award-winning artist, filmmaker and composer, Imran Perretta. The exhibition uses tropes and techniques of cinema, in the form of an expansive film set and cinematic score, to explore riots and civil uprisings in response to systemic injustice experienced by marginalised communities.

Perretta aims to provide a stage for the complex narratives that accompany such collective actions directed against the state, spurred by issues including racial profiling, social deprivation, youth disenfranchisement and anti-war sentiment.

Originally commissioned by and developed in residence at Somerset House Studios in London, the work evolves from Perretta’s own experience as a young person during the UK riots in 2011. Initially a response to the shooting of Mark Duggan by police, the riots quickly spread to Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and beyond.

A Riot in Three Acts opens with Perretta’s old Blackberry handset on which he received broadcast messages during the early days of the riots; the now-defunct Blackberry Messenger (BBM) becoming a key communication tool as one of the first end-to-end encrypted messaging services.

The burning imagery of a furniture shop at Reeves Corner in Croydon presented on the handset is emblematic of the five days of civil uprising in cities across the country. The film set, consisting of a painted scenic backdrop and props replicates Reeves Corner as it exists today — a fenced-off area of disused scrubland.

The site remains a piece of highly-contested land, simultaneously representing a memorial ground to a historic family business, a stark reminder of a community’s anger, and the death of a dream for the end of austerity.

Central to A Riot in Three Acts is a newly commissioned score, A Requiem for the Dispossessed, composed by Perretta, arranged by William Newell and co-commissioned and performed by Manchester Camerata.

Drawing on the classical tradition of the requiem, a musical composition honouring the dead, the score serves as a sonic representation of a civil uprising and its aftermath, questioning who controls the narrative around how these actions are interpreted. Presented in spatialised surround sound by producers and fellow Somerset House Studios residents Call and Response, the installation mirrors the experience of cinema sound, with the audience physically at the centre of the action.

Imran Perretta’s A Riot in Three Acts will be free to attend and comes to HOME from Sat 22 Feb – Sun 8 Jun. A special preview evening will be taking place on Fri 21 Feb from 6pm. Book your free tickets using the button below.

Featured image credit: Josef Konczak