Shivering Sands: Chaos and Coincidences of History by Rohini Devasher

In 2013, during a residency at Metal Culture, Southend Devasher undertook a small expedition, to try to see the Maunsell Seaforts, which dot the coast of the UK. These huge metallic structures, relics of the second World War, were operated as army and navy forts, and named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned in the late 1950s and later used for other activities including pirate radio broadcasting. Shivering Sands is a work that has emerged out of Devasher’s engagement with the site. We are presented with an assortment of artifacts, which are both archaeological record and engineered fiction.

This film is a journey of discovery, across the ocean to the wonderful and bizarre site that is Shivering Sands, a strange forgotten abandoned outpost. What are these strange tripod-like structures? What were they meant to be? What could we imagine them to be? The film has two simultaneous narratives; the first, the vastness of the ocean and horizon, the approach, sighting, circling and last view of Shivering Sands. These huge metallic structures, relics of the Second World War off the coast of the UK, transformed into creatures straight out of HG Well’s novels, or perhaps the All Terrain Attack Transports from Star Wars. The second, a contrapuntal narrative of an annotated and edited text (written by Laura Raicovich), that guides us through physics, symmetry, pattern, cosmology and poetry, resonating strangely and perfectly with the geography and phenomenology of the site.

Hosted by Daata and project 88.