WHAT THEY WOULD HAVE WANTED
Short Film
2024
What They Would Have Wanted was commissioned as part of a residency funded by Era Vision in Beijing.
Stills from the film were exhibited for ‘Juicy Nuissance’ at The Glove That Fits, December 2024
Short Film
2024
What They Would Have Wanted was commissioned as part of a residency funded by Era Vision in Beijing.
Stills from the film were exhibited for ‘Juicy Nuissance’ at The Glove That Fits, December 2024
‘What They Would Have Wanted’ is a film exploring the urban alienation, failed future and fading past of an abandoned construction site in Beijing. Borrowing from Polish folklore, the story follows the figure of a rusałka, which inanely inhabits these spaces with their flesh becoming a part of the ecosystem. In this contemporary myth, we trace the actions that never made the light of the day. We let others create, to commemorate the forgotten and to journey towards a brighter future. Focusing on the existing mise-en-scene of the environment, the film uses the architecture as a medium for storytelling, meta-viewing the action through the building’s perspective.
What They Would Have Wanted was commissioned as part of a residency funded by Era Vision in Beijing. During this residency, I was particularly captivated by the abandoned construction sites of schools that were around Beijing. I was thinking about the actions that didn’t end up happening, the failed futures and the layers of contemporary myth that could happen on top of the fading past. I was captivated by the weird, the eerie and the urban alienation that the space emanated and I kept thinking about what would have the people, what could have the space wanted for it, but never actually achieved.
The process of shooting this film became a durational performance in itself, where as the performer and filmmaker, I focused on creating a memorial for the failed future and through the embodiment of a Rusałka re-trace some of the movements the space was currently devoid of and create new rituals to commemorate the other the ones that never had the future that they were promised. I decided to reimagine the figure of the Rusałka from Polish folklore in the context of this environment materialise a reincarnation that inanely inhabits the space and allows their flesh to also become a part of the design and architecture. I was focusing on the mise-en-scene, using the architecture of the space as a medium for storytelling. I was thinking about the windows, the walls, the floors, and how we could have different ways of viewing the action from the perspective of the building itself. The traces left behind by the Rusałka become part of the building’s story - the building is the protagonist. The project ends up being a film and a collection of photographs, as well as sculpture work and ritual building.
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The process of shooting this film became a durational performance in itself, where as the performer and filmmaker, I focused on creating a memorial for the failed future and through the embodiment of a Rusałka re-trace some of the movements the space was currently devoid of and create new rituals to commemorate the other the ones that never had the future that they were promised. I decided to reimagine the figure of the Rusałka from Polish folklore in the context of this environment materialise a reincarnation that inanely inhabits the space and allows their flesh to also become a part of the design and architecture. I was focusing on the mise-en-scene, using the architecture of the space as a medium for storytelling. I was thinking about the windows, the walls, the floors, and how we could have different ways of viewing the action from the perspective of the building itself. The traces left behind by the Rusałka become part of the building’s story - the building is the protagonist. The project ends up being a film and a collection of photographs, as well as sculpture work and ritual building.
