In 2018, Sol Archer embarked on a project in Belfast, in collaboration with collective Household CIC, to connect with the historic working class area of ​​Sailortown over three lengthy working periods. Out of an interest in community art, he organized workshops and an oral history archive that hopefully one day can become part of a new neighborhood museum. In addition, he started a series of walks with former residents, past demolition sites and vacancies, and started discussions with refugees about the future of the neighborhood. He wanted to continue with these groups during a second stay, to set up a festival together with re-enactments about the history of the district. He is applying for an R&D subsidy for this second residency. “A deeply embedded opportunity” to deepen his methods and practice, he said in his application.

In recent years Archer had become very interested in the potential of co-creating with communities, and the potential of re-enacting events and stories. During artist-in-residencies in countries such as Brazil and Sweden, he worked with local communities and used film as a collective place of encounter and self-representation. This results in a good reflection on his own professional practice, according to the R&D committee, who considered his embedding in Belfast a plus.

Using theater techniques, Archer started working with residents and former residents to re-experience the neighborhood in a way that others could experience it too. Ultimately, political turmoil and violence in Belfast forced him to adapt, changing narratives and seeking other alliances – featured in interviews, workshops and film that he screened in both Belfast and the Netherlands. He processes all the material and experiences to make them part of a third or final phase in hopefully 2021. Then the set, film, oral history archive and other elements come together in a large mixed media festival, but corona and Brexit make plans difficult. The film can then be shown in the Netherlands and elsewhere. In the meantime, he presented the project at a conference of the Valand academy at the University of Gothenburg and at the Tate Modern.