The focus of the 4th Edition of the Triennale is on architecture as a material practice as much as a social one; what is the role of the builder and other forms of labour in this process? As part of an inquiry into the relationships between architectural forms and the people that create them, this documentary film project presents the global city of London as an artefact alongside the experience of some of those that designed and constructed it, in this case, builders, engineers and architects from Portugal.
Film-maker Richard John Seymour has captured the immensity of change and the extraordinary form-making currently underway in London. Pete Collard and Tim Abrahams interviewed workers from Portugal and asked them how they have contributed to the form of London. The film acts as a conduit between the experience of the emigrant in contributing to the form of a foreign landscape and that of the locals. Visually, the film captures life on and around the site, in detail and from a distance. The audio, in Portuguese, is a description that contracts with the experience of working in the city. The film seeks to explore the nuanced, yet complex, relationships between builders and building.
5 Oct – 12 Dec 2016
