This Is Where The Spirits Tend To Hang Out

“An investigation of the past is only the shadow cast by an interrogation of the present.”
–Michel Foucault

This Is Where The Spirits Tend To Hang Out is an exhibition and film exploring how the land, body and mind are shaped through their relationship to immaterial and material forms of control.

The film focuses on oral histories of workers from Transmitter Station Number 5 - a secret settlement built by the KGB during the Soviet-rule of Georgia. Their statements tell of the shifting status of their settlement and its residents as The Cold War progressed and how the changing geopolitics affected and still affects their personal and work lives.

The settlement was built to house the workers of a radio-jamming station, a practice of trying to block out incoming radio signals of enemy propaganda. The secrecy of the village was key to its function during Soviet times, but since the collapse of The Soviet Union they have been fighting for recognition and visibility - be it politically, cartographically or financially.

The sense of loss - of status, of importance, of purpose, of (in)visibility - seen in the ruins of former Soviet buildings and felt in the stories of the workers leads us to ask who decides what is worthy of being seen and heard.

The film is interspersed with encounters with Grahame Gardner, an expert dowser. Dowsing in Peaton Glen, close to the nuclear warhead storage facility at Coulport military base, the practice is used as a way to think through how we see and intuit the world around us. Searching for the invisible and trying to understand how the landscape, human and non-human matter are mutually formed by ongoing processes.

Accessibility

A captioned version of the film is available on request. Please phone the box office or email boxoffice@cca-glasgow.com when you book. Our Accessibility Guide can be downloaded for further information about access.

Visiting Information

You can visit this exhibition by pre-booking a time slot. The film will begin on the hour, and last for 35 minutes. Two bookable slots are available each hour. Each slot will permit two individuals or households / social bubbles of up to 3 people, to visit the exhibition for up to one hour.

Masks should be worn by all visitors to the galleries, including when entering CCA and moving around in any public spaces, including toilets and shared communal areas. A CCA member of staff will control entrance to the gallery and maintain vigilant hygiene measures in the space, ensuring regular sanitising of door handles, and any surface areas. The gallery will be well ventilated throughout the day and aired between time slots. Any interpretation materials will be single use only.

Booking Information

You can now book your slot online, by phoning or by visiting our box office. Please note the following:
– If you want to attend with someone who is not in your household or social bubble, you must book two slots, which will facilitate social distancing.
– For each hour, one slot is bookable online, and the other has been reserved to book by phone or in person at box office.
– Many online slots have sold out but we have plenty available to book by phone or in person.
– If you book a slot, but find you can no longer attend, please contact us to release your ticket for other people.
– Please arrive on time for your booking. Latecomers may be admitted up to ten minutes after the start, or you may be asked to book a new time.