To Spoor a Stockroom

To Spoor a Stockroom, 2019, dir, Stella Scott, 7 min
Streaming on 4:3

To Spoor a Stockroom confronts the sanitised future and fetishisation of space in central London. In a condemned consumer environment, the spectre of desire flickers on.

Created during the last days of Welbeck Street Car Park before its controversial demolition, the film reveals a hidden side of the brutalist landmark. The basement level was originally used by Debenhams as cold storage for fur. Gutted of goods and rails, the exposed walls carry graffiti expressing lust and frustration, left by stockroom workers over decades. One last deep clean sees the architectural skin sloughed and rubbed, releasing memories that bubble and sublimate.

Starring Florence Keith-Roach alongside Monika Blaszczak & Mateo Dupleich Rozo, who in a specially devised piece of choreography, explore the intense atmosphere and history of this subterranean space and its effect on the body. The film features a new installation by Katharina Dubbick, capturing the moment of exhaustion after a climax. As part of the collaborative production process, these artists were invited to propose site-specific responses to the transitional state of the space.

Anchored in a documentary approach, the promise of narrative supports a journey into a space that’s about to disappear. The voiceover concept is based on the historic graffiti, which was transcribed and recorded with Debenhams staff. This fragmented chorus of young voices marks a time of anxiety on the high street, with the passing of twentieth-century modes of consumerism. Just as the concrete facade is set to be torn down to make way for a hotel, the employees face an uncertain future as the department store goes into administration; the precarity of their employment in stark contrast to their predecessors.

Directed, shot and edited by

Stella Scott

Produced by

Dorothy Feaver

Co-written by

Dorothy Feaver & Stella Scott

Starring in order of appearance

Cissel Dubbick

Florence Keith-Roach

Monika Blaszczak

Mateo Dupleich Rozo

Choreography

Monika Blaszczak & Mateo Dupleich Rozo

Featuring

Katharina Dubbick

Time Capsule 7:32am, 2019

Scent, leather, mixed media

Camera assistants

Emily-Jane Robinson

Max Openshaw

Set Design

Martina Giuseppone

Make-up

Gabriela Heath

Production assistant

Kimberley Cookey-Gam

Sound design

Dorothy Feaver

Dubbing mixer

John Scott

Music

‘Do I Stutter’

Written and produced by Raime

Courtesy of RR

Grading

Faith Millin

Graphic design

Oliver Smith

Special thanks

Alexander Rennie

Staff of Debenhams Oxford Street

Filmed at

Welbeck Street Car Park, London, 2019

© 2019 Dorothy Feaver & Stella Scott