Video, Sound, Sculpture, Live Performance
Roshini Kempadoo coined the concept of “the contiguous archive”, referring to a dynamic, expanded archive of contiguous formations that are apparent in multiple locations. The contiguous archive is an imaginative, transgressive, hybrid and dynamic archive which cannot be considered stable and retroactive but is instead a generative practice using forms which are participatory and performative.Utilising the conceptual framework of the contiguous archive as a form of creative research, this installation concurrently records, re-imagines and re-presents the dances of the historical company Les Ballets Negres within a contemporary context; allowing further translations and transformations through participation.
The work in the installation is the culmination of a research project exploring the position of the dances of the African and Caribbean Diaspora in Scotland, and includes material developed as part of an ongoing collaboration with Erick Mauricia Valentin (choreographer) and Paul Shofolahan (musician). The materials within the installation are presented contiguously, as a “proposal to make meaning and knowledge through a connected process.” (Roshini Kempadoo, 2016)