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Enemies and Rascals

Terence Gower

03.07.26 - 18.10.26

Status: Coming up

Enemies and Rascals, a new polyphonic sound installation from Terence Gower, returns to a largely forgotten episode of North American history: the Invasion of Quebec during the American War of Independence.

Over the past three years, Gower has traced the scattered remains of this moment in public and university archives across Britain and North America, including The National Archives at Kew, King’s College London’s Foyle Special Collections Library, and the New York Public Library. Drawing on extensive research, the artist interlaces multiple perspectives from the military campaign, while considering the limitations of the archive itself.

The work will be presented at the Original Cell in the Maughan Library, King's College London, where the nation’s public records were formerly housed, including those relating to the governance of Britain’s colonies.

As visitors navigate between the metal and slate shelves of the Cell, they will hear accounts from congressional leaders and soldiers on the front line, proclamations by King George III, and transcripts of speeches by Indigenous leaders, asserting their own continuing sovereignty over the lands being contested by imperial and revolutionary forces.

The presentation is complemented by an exhibition of related rare books and historical documents from the period in the library’s Weston Room, curated by Gower with Katie Sambrook and colleagues at the Foyle Special Collections Library.

Project presentations

Enemies and Rascals, the Original Cell
“I began researching this history in 2023, yet the work arrives at a moment when the rhetoric surrounding this 18th century conflict – most notably the proffering of liberty, accompanied by the brutal reality of invasion – resonates with unsettling familiarity today.”
— Terence Gower

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