To Spoor a Stockroom (2019)

Created during the last days of Welbeck Street Car Park before its controversial demolition, To Spoor a Stockroom reveals a hidden side of the brutalist landmark. The basement level was originally used by Debenhams as cold storage for fur. Gutted of goods and rails, the exposed walls carry graffiti expressing lust and frustration, left by stockroom workers over decades. One last deep clean sees the architectural skin sloughed and rubbed, releasing memories that bubble and sublimate. Starring Florence Keith-Roach alongside Monika Blaszczak and Mateo Dupleich Rozo, who explore the intense atmosphere and history of this subterranean space and its effect on the body in a specially devised piece of choreography. The film features an installation by Katharina Dubbick, capturing the moment of exhaustion after a climax. The voice-over concept is based on the historic graffiti, which was transcribed and recorded with Debenhams staff. This fragmented chorus of young voices marks a time of anxiety on the high street, with the passing of twentieth-century modes of consumerism. Just as the concrete facade is set to be torn down to make way for a hotel, the employees face an uncertain future as the department store goes into administration. Anchored in a documentary approach, the promise of narrative supports a journey into a space that's about to disappear.