Decision with no Return or A Sense of Territory

Decision with No Return is an artistic research project that examines the reconfiguration of territory and identity in the context of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union.

The work approaches Brexit not as a political event to be explained, but as a narrative condition—one that can be investigated through fiction, speculation, and symbolic representation. Drawing on the structure of a detective story, the project constructs a fictional investigation into the shifting relationship between Great Britain and Europe.

Through this framework, territory is understood not as a fixed geography, but as a contested and constructed space shaped by history, imagination, and political decision.

Process

The project unfolds through the appropriation and recomposition of existing cultural material, particularly from British popular culture.

Fragments from television series and films featuring iconic detective characters—such as Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, and others—are re-edited into a new narrative. These figures, drawn from the artist’s childhood references, become agents of investigation, collectively attempting to make sense of a political rupture.

In parallel, the artist collects and constructs physical “evidence” from the urban environment, creating a speculative field in which fiction and reality intersect.

*Forms

The research is translated into audiovisual, material, and visual forms:

Video (8 min): a mashup composed of 49 different sources, assembling a fictional detective narrative in which iconic characters investigate the consequences of Brexit

Physical clues: objects collected and presented as evidence, including toy bullet cases, empty nitrous oxide cartridges, and traces of DNA, forming a speculative crime scene

Paintings (series of 9):small acrylic canvases depicting question marks, functioning as visual markers of uncertainty and unresolved meaning

These elements operate together as an investigative system, where narrative, material traces, and symbolic forms construct a fragmented understanding of territory and decision.

Context

The project was developed during a residency at Islington Mill and presented there in 2017.

It was later shown in contexts such as Proyector Filmfestival in Madrid and Buenos Aires, Argentina and El Instante Fundación.

Credits

Concept and direction: Christina Schultz Music: Mirim Casal Madinabeita Hommage to: Why can’t we live together by Timmy Thomas