Imran Perretta and Dhanveer Singh Brar in conversation chaired by Rahila Haque

A Riot in Three Acts is an exhibition by artist, filmmaker and composer Imran Perretta, combining sound, sculpture and performance to reflect on the narratives of our urban spaces, and the social inequality and racial violence that shape them.

The exhibition is a large-scale installation using the tropes and techniques of cinema, in the form of an expansive film set and cinematic score, to consider riots and civil uprisings that have occurred in response to systemic injustice experienced by marginalised communities. The exhibition provides a stage for the complex narratives that accompany such collective actions directed against the state, often spurred by racist policing, social deprivation, youth disenfranchisement and anti-war sentiment.

Originally commissioned by and developed in residence at Somerset House Studios in London, the work evolves from Perretta’s experience as a young person during the UK riots in 2011. Initially a response to police violence in London, the riots became a national uprising brought on by an age of endless austerity, quickly spreading to Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and beyond.