“Ghost soldier (gabbing away)” was conceived and created by MASBEDO for the air-raid shelter in Granollers (Barcelona), located in Plaça Maluquer i Salvador, during the preview days of Manifesta 15. The audio-visual performance explores the devastation of the confict through a powerful fusion of images and live action. Five performers wander inside the Granollers bomb shelter, creating a surreal and disturbing landscape that evokes the desolation of war. Tey wear video screens showing images of
bombings taken and reworked from Peter Watkins’ flm “Te War Game” (1965), which simulates the effects of a nuclear attack on a British city, combining documentary techniques and dramatised narratives to ofer a realistic and shocking depiction of the immediate and long-term consequences of nuclear war. Te sound of the performance, an eerie soundtrack, accompanies the performers’ movements, leading them towards the end of the performance in a harsh, underground dance.
“Ghost soldier (gabbing away)” fts into the context of Granollers, a city with its own history of wartime devastation, on the one hand creating a link to the local historical narrative and on the other adding an additional layer of meaning and resonance to the work.