Alone Together (London) (2018-)

2018

Documentation of participatory live work with residents of Landmark Heights, 7 min

Project includes paraphernalia and documentation of the process: letter sent, messages & conversations with residents, mobile phone video preview, photographic documentation and unpublished footage of various other location happenings.

excerpt taken from Aesthetica Magazine’s Future Now Anthology 2020:

“Laura Besançon’s participatory work Alone, Together (2018) typifies modern life. Most of the population lives in cities or mega cities. We live on top of each other, and can do for years, but we may never know who sleeps below us. Besançon developed a project that began with sending a letter to the residents of a high-rise, asking them to turn their lights on and off to the sequence of a soundtrack whilst she filmed outside. The result is a perfect symphony. It’s amazing to get that level of performance and to see what happens next - maybe the residents start to speak to each other. It’s about creating a sense of community. Besançon’s piece is a highly accomplished conceptual piece with real impact, offering a greater understanding of the factions within society”. - Cherie Federico, Director of Aesthetica Magazine (Foreword, Future Now Anthology 2020)

excerpt taken from interview with Ann Dingli for Valletta Contemporary:

AD: I'd like to look at your work, Alone, Together, and its commentary on the nature of living alongside, yet separate, from others. What do you believe converts places into communities? Can communities be silent or apart and yet still possess togetherness?

 LB: You have a machine. It will only work if all the parts do the job they are best at, on their own, together. This interconnectedness with a shared purpose. A community is a group that shares a commonality. In Alone, Together the artwork was shared. My idea only came through because of the residents’ participation. If I did not send the letters it would not have happened. Individually but collectively, it happened – a co-created, shared moment, together on a mental and emotional level. It might also have an after effect in a more physical dimension – I wonder whether the residents will initiate contact the day after, when they meet spontaneously, say in the lift or around the block. 

During the live work, I felt that each of us participants, including myself, acknowledged each other’s aloneness and togetherness, through the action performed together in our separate spaces. So yes, I think a community can still possess togetherness by being apart – through openness, respect, acknowledgement and care about the individuals around us and the bigger picture or a common goal. At the end of the day, we are all alone, and that is what we all have in common.

Selections & Screenings:

ZK/U Berlin Openhaus (2022)

The Next Thing Moving Image Award 2021 (Finalist), Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Center, Bury, UK (30th November - 22nd January 2022) view

Aesthetica Art Prize 2020 (Finalist), York Art Gallery, UK (March 2020 - February 2021) view

MTV RE:DEFINE Award 2019 (Finalist), Goss-Michael Foundation & MTV Re:define, US view

Exhibitions & Screenings:

Playful Futures, Valletta Contemporary, Valletta, Malta (2021)

NW Artist Film: Spit That Out Cinema Program, Push Festival 2020, HOME, Manchester, UK (2020)

Screenlight, Waterside Arts, Manchester, UK (2020)

Living Room: If I woke up one day - Laura Besancon, Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence, Italy (April, 2020)

ArtConnect Berlin (2020)

Bankley Open 2019, Bankley Studios & Gallery, Manchester (2019)

Royal College of Art Degree Show 2019, London, UK (2018)

Installation view

Documentation of Participatory work screened at Playful Futures, Valletta Contemporary, 2021

Preview posted on instagram as stated in the letter to the residents:

unpublished footage of various other location happenings with varying participation include :