Tere Chad

The Covid-19 pandemic forced the artist to adapt her practice. With no access to the studios, how was she going to create sculptures? In surreal circumstances, where we are being bombarded with WhatsApp messages of ‘new gurus’ advising us how to survive the virus. Media sensationalism is governed by the spectacle. Inspired by Alexander Calder’s ‘Circus’ she decided to write the script of ‘The Spectacle of the Shadows’, a 14-minute video of a post-utopian scenario, where humanity has been extinguished and is facing the ‘judgement of God’ through St. Peter. Thinking about the materials she had at home and using as reference Kara Walker’s silhouettes, she handcrafted marionettes from recycled cardboards used by local laundries to fold shirts. These marionettes represent politicians and other figures who have been protagonists during this crisis, in silhouette. Influenced by Arthur Robinson’s German expressionist silent film ‘Warning Shadows’ (1923), she created this short film where she uses real audio footage of diverse politicians mixed with St. Peter’s interview. Paul Hindle composed the ‘Symphony of Shadows’ as soundtrack for the video piece, aiming for a creepy but sweet, sticky but rhythmic, spectacular but soft, hypnotic but dreamlike atmosphere. This short film is not only a naïve and satirical portrait of the current pandemic, but also a criticism of our humanness. The artist has selected this video piece as her emblematic piece, as she would like it to stay in the Royal College of Art 2020 platform, as a witness of the current crisis, allowing future generations to judge if we have taken the best decisions.

‘The Spectacle of the Shadows’ is a short film that responds to the current pandemic. With no access to professional studios and social distancing rules in place, the actors have been handcrafted with recycled cardboard used by local laundries to fold shirts. The artist used the carboards that come with the shirts after collecting them from the laundry together with barbecue bamboo skewers, masking tape, paper fastener, nylon string and thin wire to give life to the shadow marionettes. To reduce the excess of movement of some marionettes, she stuck coins onto their backs to add weight.
The script was written using footage collected during the lockdown from March to May 2020, London. The voices of the other characters were recorded through WhatsApp messages or using simple recording programmes from a normal computer. The soundtrack music ‘Symphony of Shadows’ was composed by Paul Hindle.
In this section you’ll be able to appreciate the marionettes who acted in ‘The Spectacle of the Shadows’, unveiling the work in progress behind this short film. This piece proves that you don’t need a fancy studio to create a strong message able to reach out to a wider audience.

Series of work related to media sensationalism, the spectacle and circus.

This is an unfinished piece, as she had to leave her studio at the Royal College of Art due to Covid-19 and she could only take the vultures home. ‘Are we sinking?’ showcases three vultures staring at an origami paper boat sinking in a pond. It makes reference to the current world collapse in a theatrical way. The birds will not save humanity like in the biblical story ‘Noah’s Ark’, but in a world where institutions and religion appear to have lost their value/credibility, the vultures are just waiting to see humanity sink. Somehow, it resembles Giacometti’s tree in Samuel Becket’s theatre play ‘Waiting for Godot’, as the tree only exists in images, because it was destroyed during the Paris 1968 riots. She was able to finish the vultures during the lockdown, but the boat remains unfinished in her studio. There cannot be better times to be working on a sinking boat. The piece was intended to be presented during the Valley of Vision exhibition this summer in Shoreham, but the show has been suspended.

This was the initial piece Tere Chad was going to re-create for her degree show. She was going to construct it just in front of the Albert Memorial. This piece has been recently shortlisted for the ‘Sustainability First Art Prize’. ‘The Re-Enlightenment’ is not only an aesthetic sculpture, in opposition to conceptual individualistic arts, it requires collaboration and the involvement of a community in its construction process. It is a monument that makes a recycling statement and invites to rethink whether the rational ideas of the Enlightenment really brought us the wealth we wanted. It attempts to give a new light for our society, even seeming alive as the bottles make a nice echo when the wind blows. It is a piece that speaks about the urge of not forgetting our ability of sensing the world through our hands, and not forgetting that our planet is alive. It has the shape of a shell, bio-mimicking the hermit crab’s recyclable houses. Hermit crabs use shells as houses and as they grow, they change to a bigger shell and leave their previous house for a younger hermit crab. It was inspired by Michael Reynold’s ‘Earthships’. The initial sample was constructed during a residency in Spain: ‘Joya Air’.

Tere Chad will offer three ‘Meet the Artist’ events, where the general public will be able to join through a zoom link to meet her by video call. This session will work as an informal drop in session where she will be answering questions about her practice, telling us more about the work in progress and her future plans. Feel free to come along, there is no need to book in advance!

The events will be held:
Tuesday 21/7/2020 20 – 21hrs (Time Zone UK)
Saturday 25/7/2020 15 – 16hrs (Time Zone UK)
Wednesday 29/7/2020 17 – 18hrs (Time Zone UK)

Please get in touch (teresa.chadwick@network.rca.ac.uk) if you have any further queries about how to access the event.