FORGE

In 2014 the 100kg iron 'welcome' gate was stolen from Dachau concentration camp. A local blacksmith made a replica. It was exactly like the original.

FORGE is the first of a new set of work about memorials, replicas, and human behaviour at spaces with difficult histories. It will ask what and who memorials are for, what should happen to places where traumatic events have taken place and who decides. It will ask about decay, hallowing, closure and our responsibility to the present.

I'm working with female welders and metal workers, trauma tourism academics, memorial architects and custodians of memory. I have learnt to weld to a reasonable degree.

FORGE - INSTALLATION

FORGE is a three-day installation during which I weld a replica of the stolen Dachau concentation camp gate. I am accompanied by sound artist Dinah Mullen who creates a live sound-scape in conversation with the action. Audiences enter the space, first encountering an exhibtion which puts the action in context. They then kit up in protective clothing and are invited as witnesses to spend as long as they like with the work.

FORGE also features three associated public conversations wherever it is performed, focussing on personal, local, national/international issues of memorial that are pertinent to the area.

It premiered at Transform Festival, Leeds in April 2022.
You can read a Guardian preview piece HERE.

Photos from Installation, Transform Festival 2022 by JMA Photography:

Photos from Development period by JMA Phography, with metal worker Jeni Cairns:

Below is the FORGE publication which audiences receive in hard copy when they leave:

PERFORMANCE INSTALLATION TEAM

Conceived and Presented by Rachel Mars
Dramaturg and Co-director Wendy Hubbard
Sound Dinah Mullen
Designer Naomi Kuyck Cohen
Metal Fabricator and Mentor Jeni Cairns
Producer Claire Summerfield at Tandem Works
Production Manager Helen Mugridge
Rabbinical / Judaism Consultancy Jacqueline Nicholls and Rabbi Lev Taylor
Development Mentors Karen Sherman and Helen Paris
Publication Designer Marcos Villalba at Studio Villalba

PERFORMANCE INSTALLATION CREDITS

Commissioned by Transform and Cambridge Junction with support from Stobbs New Ideas Fund. Funded by a Grant from Arts Council England. With support from Chapter Arts Centre, Horizon Showcase, Metal Culture, MGCFutures and Asylum Arts. Originally developed through the Barbican Open Lab programme.

FORGE - STage PIECE

FORGE was originally conceived as a Stage piece, and may return in that form in the future. We worked on it over several years from 2017.

Stage Drawings by Kat Radeva, March 2020

STAGE TEAM
Dramaturg Wendy Hubbard
Sound Designer Dinah Mullen
Lighting Designer Anna Barrett
Designer Kat Radeva
Mentor Karen Sherman
Mentor Helen Paris/Curious
Producer Claire Summerfield

STAGE PROJECT HISTORY

First piloted at The Yard Theatre, Live Drafts, 2017, development continued at The Museum of Human Achievement, Austin May 2018, Cambridge Junction 2018, Open Lab Barbican 2018/9, Horizon Showcase 2021, Chapter Arts Centre 2021

R&D support from the Arts Council, with more support from Open Lab Barbican, Cambridge Junction, Metal Culture- Peterborough, MGC Futures, with additional time at Royal Exchange, Manchester .