THE
CHOREUM 





RUSSELL  ROYER


Where indigenous voice has largely been absent, the architect must perform an altruistic role. They must become part of a larger support system, letting go of dated art historical or architectural references to invest wholeheartedly in the desires of source communities. In opposition to a dreary public consultation, The Choreum ensures that the source communities’ values take pride of place, THEIR knowledge and connection to THEIR artefacts transcending the tangible/material world that our profession limits us to.
























The Boutou Choreum Frame.













Uniforms and sheaths took inspiration from costumes created for carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, alongside the wear of Kalinago communities.






The Choreum supersedes the current museological choreographies that surround cultural objects, confronting destructive architectures of handling, observing, and labelling. Accumulating the necessary expertise, we provide spaces for communities to explore their protocols or to invent new ones, ensuring that the museum is a momentary pause in the extended life of cultural objects.


The Choreum’s stage design, with pieces easily attached to the existing stick-fighting stage, with lengths of woven fabric that may change colour, print or pattern. The Boutou, formerly without community is returned to use, preserved through new spatial configurations, new materiality, destruction, and most importantly, continued usage.

















Overview of The Choreum workshop.










Rehearsals will establish the movements that re-empower the artefact, the procession removing the N’demi from it’s vitrine along with its reductive caption. The original N’demi will be smashed in front of a crowd of visitors.