An exciting new commission by Chats Palace Arts Centre, Breathe With Me Homerton invites you to be part of an auditory journey through one of Hackney’s landmark buildings, searching for the way Homerton’s residents breathe as a collective.

Inspired by our established Palace Club programme for local elders, this project is a collage of local voices, exploring the idea of a community’s identity in relation to time.

Breathe With Me Homerton is a celebration of our neighbourhood and the people inhabiting it and starts from the simple question: “What does it mean to breathe?”. A virtual walk across Homerton experienced through sounds and words collected in the neighbourhood, the outside world will infiltrate Chats Palace – inviting you to see Homerton through new eyes.

Audience members were guided on a sound voyage with headphones through a series of chapters about Homerton on the ground floor of Chats Palace, as our unseen narrators breathe new life into our understanding of life in Hackney now.

Click on the image on the left to access the Soundcloud link.

Once it is open on a new browser tab, let the track play in the background as you scroll through the images below.

Images by Thomas Palomino-Ingram and Susanne Dietz

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Silvia Mercuriali is a British-Italian theatre maker and artist and a Hackney resident of 20+ years. An associate artist of cult art group, SHUNT, Silvia is a pioneer of instruction based ‘autoteatro’, merging sound installation with theatre. Her work places audiences at the core as co-creators, participants, performers, focusing on their role in relation to their environment and to each other. She has presented work internationally and has been commissioned by cultural centres and theatres including Brisbane Powerhouse (AUS), Museum of Art of Kochi (JP) as well as UK commissioning bodies such as Wellcome Trust, Fuel Theatres, The Roundhouse, Battersea Arts Centre, and Harrogate Theatre & Yorkshire Festival.

CREATIVE TEAM

Lead Artist: Silvia Mercuriali
Producer: Rebecca Goh (Chats Palace)
Scenographer: Amanda Ramasawmy
Design Assistant: Scarlett Stevens
Sound designer / engineer: Tommaso Perego
Workshop Facilitators: Adina Thompson, Talibah Rivers, Susanne Dietz
Photographer / Videographer: Thomas Palomino-Ingram
Technical Manager: Crin Claxton (Chats Palace)
FOH Manager: Toraigh Watson (Chats Palace)

With contributions from:

Ellen Proctor, Jacquetta May, Cathy Allen, Roger Lambert, The Pedro Club, Daniel Young, Patrizia Paolini, Philip Lloyd, Sam Dickinson, Bruno, Oly, Mind Charity Shop in Homerton, Keith ‘Sunny’ Spencer, Rebecca Oniye, Peter Young, and Indrani Eliaperumal.

Project Funders