Contagious Hystories is a sprawling artwork with a mirrored structure. Rooted both inside and outside of institutions, the work questions the notion of trespassing, legally and morally. The durational performance (1h30) took place in Khôra, our relocated studio transformed into an ephemeral gallery on disused land near New Cross Gate station and was live streamed through Periscope to the top floor of the Ben Pimlott Building at Goldsmiths College. There, two strapped barrels of pure asphalt imported from Trinidad were imperceptibly melting and merging into one another during the duration of the exhibition. Asphalt is this ambiguous matter that is neither solid nor liquid. An aberrant fluid, a melting solid.

 

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             'La pute, c’est l’asphalteuse, celle qui s’approprie la ville. Elle travaille hors le domestique et la maternité, hors la cellule familiale.'

'The whore is the asphalt paver, the one that appropriates the city. She works outside the domestic and maternity, outside the family unit.'

                                                                                                                                                             Virginie Despentes, King Kong Théorie

 

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A poor connection was relating the 'illegally erected out-building' to Goldsmiths College and the larger online community. Exposed to the pixelated image and some GPS coordinates, the audience was invited to step out and climb over a wall to attend the performance live. A few people wearing High-Visibility jackets were along the way to direct and facilitate access to Khôra.