FORGE: Reflections Three Months On
Image: Vonalina Cake
“A profound and mesmerising experience that dealt in a unique way with the themes of grief, labour and monument activism.”
During the last week of May, performance maker and writer Rachel Mars brought her acclaimed work FORGE to Bristol. The durational installation welcomed audiences into a world of memory, where they were invited to bear witness as Rachel welded together pieces of a replica of the ‘welcome gate’ to Dachau concentration camp, famously stolen in 2014 and subsequently replaced.
As we near the end of summer, and in advance of Rachel taking FORGE to the Horizon Showcase in Edinburgh, we thought we’d look back on that late May Bank Holiday weekend and share some images and audience feedback alongside the audio of a panel discussion we held as part of the project.
Walking into Unit 15 Creation Space, FORGE attendees encountered an exhibition that gave historical context to the performance. Then, having been briefed by volunteers, donned an apron and welding mask before entering. From the Thursday to the Saturday that FORGE took place, Unit 15 was transformed. Filled with a diverse soundscape created by artist Dinah Mullen, a space usually used by Invisible Circus to practise tricks became a site of remembrance, reflection, and grief as audiences sat – sometimes up to an hour – watching Rachel weld together a replica of the gate.
“I loved the way that it pushed boundaries around the notion of performance. Also, that we were very much part of the experience with our protective clothing and our ability to move freely around the space. It was powerful seeing a woman work with these materials.”
Image: Vonalina Cake
Part of the beauty of durational installations such as FORGE, is the ability to experience a different performance depending on when you go. Each hour and day that passed saw a new part of the gate being built by Rachel, culminating in the final touches being added on Saturday evening to the sound of a live brass band. A triumphant conclusion to a formidable task.
Alongside the presentation featured two talks, The Politics of Memorials - How We Shape Memory in Public Spaces with lecturer Tim Cole, sound artist Ralph Hoyte and MP Cleo Lake, and Artist on Working with Difficult Histories with writer and performer Edson Burton and Rachel herself. These conversations situated FORGE within Bristol’s cultural context, touching on the city’s on-going grapple with Edward Colston’s statue and legacy, as well as the creative community’s response to an ever-changing political landscape.
“I had some really powerful conversations with my fellow attendees - the subject matter and the hypnotic nature of Rachel’s movements broke down again conversation barriers.”
Image: Vonalina Cake
An important aspect of FORGE coming to Bristol was the opportunity to contextualise the piece through dialogue and discussion. The talks provided a space to interact more fully with Rachel’s work, to unpick her thought process as well as interrogate our own. FORGE’s exploration into human behaviour, why we attach meaning to otherwise inanimate objects and how this is influenced by our personal and communal histories, gave space for conversations about who’s legacy gets memorialised and decides.
Listen to The Politics of Memorials - How We Shape Memory in Public Spaces below.
“The question around authenticity and the emotions we invest in authentic objects has really stayed with me.”
Image: Vonalina Cake
Words from Rachel and Matthew
“Bringing FORGE to Bristol took years of thought and planning. We absolutely loved Unit 15 to work in; the natural light, the sounds of gulls, the height of the space, the wild creaking of the ceiling panels, the places for people to sit and read after they left. The whole spacial environment allowed the work to be all of the things it can be - intimate, challenging, absurd, moving, above all an invitation to come and feel all the feelings. I loved the two conversations we had at Trinity and the Old Vic; really interrogating people's desires for memorialisation in the city, and how we might do it radically, personally, with new tech and existing community. I'm thrilled we got to bring this work to Bristol, thank you to everyone who made it happen, and everyone who came.”
Rachel Mars
“As we opened those bright pink doors to FORGE, Rachel reminded me how long we'd been talking about bringing the project to Bristol. She first told me about her idea for FORGE in Edinburgh back in 2017, and what followed was a long journey to Unit 15 in 2023. A work-in-progress at The Barbican in 2019, and then Covid got in the way. And in the midst of all that, Bristol's ongoing reckoning with its memorials to its own difficult history came to a head as Colston's statue fell into the river. After that it felt even more pertinent to bring FORGE here and to make space for conversation and reflection. Rachel's reminder of the journey we'd been on says something about how complex works like this need time to percolate and need a lot of careful thinking about when and how they meet an audience.”
Matthew Austin, MAYK
Image: Vonalina Cake
Thank Yous and Credits
Presenting something like FORGE involves a huge number of people, working together for months beforehand. We’d like to raise a cheer for the Mayfest 2022 team for getting us *almost* there last year, the brilliant people at Unit 15, and all our volunteers Bernie, Bobby, David, Hatty, Izzy, Jeremy, Sergio, Steph, and Yogi.
Conceived and Presented Rachel Mars
Dramaturg and Co-director Wendy Hubbard
Sound Dinah Mullen
Sound Contributions Bristol Brass Band
Designer Naomi Kuyck-Cohen
Metal Fabricator and Mentor Jeni Cairns
Sound Engineer James Ball
Production Manager Helen Mugridge
Executive Producer Claire Summerfield at Tandem Works
Producer Pilar Santelices
Rabbinical / Judaism Consultancy Jacqueline Nicholls and Rabbi Lev Taylor
Development Mentors Kaz Sherman and Helen Paris
El Malei Rachamim sung by Rachel Weston
Project Photographers JMA Photography and Claire Haigh
Publication Design Villalba Studio
Commissioned by the Barbican, Transform, and Cambridge Junction with support from Stobbs New Ideas Fund. Using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. With support from Chapter Arts Centre, Horizon: Performance Made in England, Metal Culture, MGCFutures and Asylum Arts. Originally developed through the Barbican Open Lab programme. First performed at Transform Festival, Leeds 2022. Presented by MAYK.
Image: Vonalina Cake
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