Beckton Alps

The video’s central axis is the history of the artificial mountain called Beckton Alps — a place that is the ultimate scenario of a post-industrialization period. Nowadays, a heap of industrial debris lies in the area used where it used to be a gas works industry. Back then, there used to be endless black mountains of the original gasworks due to the large number of chemical by-products resulting from gas production. Ironically, the place has been dubbed the Alps; today, there is only one mountain made of these rejects. Investigating this mountain’s history was similar to unveiling various layers of destruction and oblivion, a way to explore how the cities and the memories are constructed throughout time.

Beckton Alps – Archive & Research 2012-2018  gathers part of the materials produced and researched for the film production.

BECKTON ALPS
Video
12:29 min.
2018

The entire project is the Trilogy of Mountains, which is related to landscape and memory. Trilogy of the Mountains is devised in three parts: Alpenprojekt, based on the alpine relief; the second approach Beckton Alps, an artificial mountain in east London; and the third part is related to artificial mountains made with war debris in Germany.

The research was initiated during an artistic residency at Gasworks (London, UK), granted by Fundação Iberê (Porto Alegre, Brazil) in 2012.