THE PITS at Somerset House: Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane

On the 24th of April, Somerset House saw the exclusive opening night of a participatory installment in its Studios entitled, ‘The Pits’ commissioned by resident artists Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane. With the symbolism of ‘The Pits’ linking anatomically to the stomach, the space becomes representative of digesting the indigestible, a space to confront emotions and feelings that are difficult to swallow or express in a standardised environment. Anger, grief, remorse and emotions deemed ‘unsuitable’ in conventional spaces are encouraged in 'The Pits', where the work becomes centred around ideas of the individual and confronting pressures and repressed feelings both within and beyond our insular lives. A place to grapple with the hardships and anxieties of our contemporary space that may seem indigestible and beyond our capacity to control or minimise. 'The Pits' represents a ‘A space which invites the public to explore what cannot be metabolised into productivity, for the ways contemporary politics, debt and bureaucracy can feel like an assault’. 

The opening night extended beyond the instalment space from the entryway of ‘The Pits’ through to the Lancaster Gate entrance of Somerset House where an informal energy was created, enabling invited guests to talk, drink and read the pamphlets provided detailing what to expect and the ‘guiding principles’ of the artists’ piece. What became a pertinent message for the installation was not about what the space looks like but what it means to the individual to be within the space; how an environment enables, disables or forces us to confront the uncomfortable. Aesthetically, it is within your own capacity to retrieve something from the exhibition, it is not about what the space can do for you, but what you enable yourself to do in the space, to retrieve what is buried in ‘the pits’ of oneself. 

Photo by Grace Mahoney

Somerset House Studios contend that ‘The work takes its name from the belly of the theatre, from the sensation in the stomach and from the void that emerges when things go wrong’. A room for rumination, a space for externalising the deeply buried self, ‘The Pits’ works to establish itself as an expressive space, rather than a performative one. With concerns about empire, economy and contemporary struggles of belonging, the instalment supports Somerset House’s artistic endeavours. Outside the Lancaster Gate entrance to Somerset House, the phrase, ‘Step Inside, Think Outside’ indicates the entrance to 'The Pits', encouraging visitors to yield to the individual artistic capacity that brings the instalment to its full fruition.

The Lancaster Gate entrance is the residing place of Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane’s previous piece entitled ‘2125’, relating to the year in which the lease of Somerset house to be run under a private trust comes to an end. Created from reclaimed Portland Stone, the piece becomes representative of the Admiralty Arch connecting Trafalgar Square to Buckingham palace. ‘2125 asks: Who has the right to occupy? For how long? And under what terms?’. Al-Maria and Ourahmane newest commission, ‘The Pits’ takes these questions that created ‘2125’ and encapsulates them in a space to both confront these questions in an environment free from restrictive concepts of entitled ideas belonging. 'The Pits' works to expand on the fundamental ideas of belonging in an empirically dominant society established in 2125 and bring them into an expansive space, delving into what Somerset House Studios finds ‘happens when we stop performing and sit with difficult emotions.’

Photo by Grace Mahoney

Location then becomes an important factor in both ‘2125’ and their newest commission ‘The Pits’ through Somerset House’s history and occupancy. Built in 1776, Somerset House was home to the admiralty until 1873 and since 1873, different institutions, societies and governmental bodies have occupied Somerset House, where some 15 years ago a hotel chain almost ascertained a wing of the building. Where the Admiralty arch, which 2125’s Portland Stone originates from, now resides as a hotel, Al Maria and Ourahmane’s work comes full circle, enshrouded by the question of who is welcome in certain spaces, especially those spaces with deep empirical history. Somerset House website details 2125 as exploring ‘the grey areas of Britain’s narratives that shape our understanding of identity, belonging, and who has the ‘right to remain.’

An important detail issued by the artists is the idea of preservation of space in the pits. They welcome those using the space to rearrange the furniture to how they see best fits their situation and capacity, but insist on the pits remaining as a place free from abuse with the aim of preserving emotional wellbeing alongside health and safety. The instalment is free to book from the 25th of April to the 31st of August, with the requirement of those using the space to be respectful of the ‘Guiding Principles’ outlined by the artists. 

Performance and space in the pits upon first glance become inextricable, with the lighting and ambience of a theatre space, one singular spotlight can appear at first to have an element of expectation. However, established by the artists both formatively in a written space, but also on an engagement level, Sophia Al-Maria sat in the pits and encouraged the visitors to engage with the freedom of expression encapsulated in the instalment. Expectation and performativity became quickly dispelled as the artists worked actively to disavow ideas of scripted performance in favour of the importance of free expression. On no occasion are you forced or pressured to adhere to the purpose of the instalment. And so, ‘The Pits’ becomes a space of unequivocal belonging, with a lack of parameters or criteria to book the space, all that is asked of visitors is an understanding of the complete unacceptability of abuse both to others and the space itself. 

In the heart of the hustle and bustle of Central London, ‘The Pits’ creates a space of solace to begin confronting troublesome thoughts drowned out by the consistent movement demanded of us in the city. Made evident in the opening of ‘The Pits’ the space becomes what you in your individuality decide it to be, there is no script for the instalment. Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane have created this space to allow us to come face-to-face with our internalised conflicts, but it is up to us as visitors to engage and transform this space into a space of recovery, solace and digestion. 

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Edited by Daria Slikker, London Editor