Pile

Pile
3 Channel Video Installation, 2010
30 minutes
(3-D Render of installation configuration)

Pile was made during our residency at the Market Estate Project in London.

During our time at the Market Estate we lived in an empty flat on site. We witnessed the last remaining residents move out of the building. With each move, new piles would accumulate in the hallways of things left behind. Initially we looked at the piles for clues into the lives of the residents, but quickly realized that discarded items tell very little about the lives and history of the place.

We came to look at the piles as artifacts of this soon to be demolished housing project that failed to successfully house its residents safely and securely. These are records of failure. The people we have talked to have many different ideas for why this place failed— the stigma, its poor upkeep, the residents, the building design. Regardless of the reasons, the fact remains that despite the high expectations for this place when it was built, it did fail. Our piece is a meditation on this failure in this odd moment in the buildings history.