Wish You Were Here, The Disappearance of Fido – Open School East

This moving image work emerged from a two-day performance and set-making collaboration with Open School East’s Despacito Art School. The group staged a filmed play, blending straightforward storytelling with absurd performances. The narrative draws inspiration from the real-life theft of Thanet District Council’s Dalmatian print FIDO (a dog waste disposal machine) in 2019, spinning a speculative fiction around its disappearance.

This piece is part of a broader film collaboration between Emelia, Lucia, and Middleton. Set in an abstracted future Margate, where the legend of FIDO has evolved into folklore and a cult true crime mystery, the work explores themes of folk horror, gentrification, insider/outsider dynamics, hauntology, and psychogeography. By monumentalising FIDO and the LIDO sign, the trio connect various research points and critical concerns, reflecting their perspectives as newcomers to the town.

In addition to the moving image work, the trio created a 2-metre diorama of the Margate Lido Complex as a response to moving to Margate for OSE. The diorama’s hokey realism marks an early experiment in using re-creation and the blending of fact and fiction through montage to understand their subject matter.

Credits:

Despacito Art School 
Taya East; Benitta Balazova; Daisy Chiyama; Christly Chiyama; Maria Balazova; Raiden Taylor-Smith; Kingsley Taylor-Smith; Otis Taylor-Smith; Minnie Clays; Eddie Cesar; Julia Kosinska; Knight Hall.

Workshop Planning, Play Work and Facilitation 
Zelda Solomon

Workshop support 
Vlasta Hozoval; Polly Brannan; Kat Cutler-MacKenzie

Keyboard
Adam Hounsfield 

Diorama 
Ed Leader – 3D Printed Lido Lamp