26, Caledonian Rd: A Smudging Ritual

‘It was quiet for a number of years. It was happy and it was sad… the usual family ups&downs.

It was kind of easy.

It was the family and the old spirits lurking around, some

happy, some sad… the usual ghost’s ups&downs.

Not long ago I was invaded by many others, unknown

others, placing stuff here and there. No one cares for

my mourning, my bereavement.

My walls, my floors, my ceilings are packed with tears, with

joy, with laughter and anguish. Now, I have heard, the

amusing artists will go too.

The smell of ham will be back.

The smell of new money will make its presence felt upstairs

I’ve been told…

I could definitely do with some cleansing, some love and

help for this, ever again, transition.’

Former Italian deli K.C Continental Stores has been empty since the deli closed to the public and the family living upstairs moved out of the premises. The building is used now on as an art space: the Geddes Gallery in 26, Caledonian Rd. The shift of usage of the space made me reflect in the act of transforming the utilisation of the space without taking the Space itself into account. For my work at Geddes Gallery I proposed to perform various rituals to help the space in the transition from ‘Home’ to ‘Art space’. I performed three rituals, along the five days of the duration of the show: a Cleanse ritual, a ritual of Love and a ritual of Death. They all based on traditional Mediterranean folk tradition methods (to match the Italian background of the site) and enacted under a Jungian framework of archetypes.