To Spoor a Stockroom
Stella Scott
2019
To Spoor a Stockroom, 2019, dir, Stella Scott, 7 min
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.
Stella Scott, To Spoor a Stockroom I, II, III, 2019, C-prints on newsprint
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