INDEPENDENCE
Curated by Gabriela Román González
With works by Débora Delmar and Ilê Sartuzi
Presented by Not The Owners and CASA at Brixton House, part of Systems in Question, the June - July chapter of Lines of Flight, CASA’s year-round multi-arts programme
27 June - 4 July 2026
This exhibition was developed through a series of conversations between Débora Delmar, Ilê Sartuzi and Gabriela Román González, examining different understandings of what independence means and the legal infrastructures that inform it.
From macro-systems such as immigration law, explored through references to British legislation, to the interpersonal dynamics established through the exhibition-making process, INDEPENDENCE considers how different forms of dependency are produced and negotiated.
A series of contracts, authored from the respective positions of Delmar, Sartuzi and curator Gabriela Román González, were presented as artworks within the exhibition to set the terms of this cultural production. In doing so, the project comments on labour in the arts and reflects on different understandings of how autonomy is claimed and exercised within the systems that determine how we live and work.
In an unplanned coincidence, Independence closed on 4 July 2026, the 250th anniversary of US independence from Great Britain.
Débora Delmar, Brief IV & V, 2026. As set out in the contract: From 27 June 2026 until 4 July 2026, each Party shall wear a wristwatch set to the local time of another Party’s nation. Artist 1 shall use Cuba time. Artist 2 shall use Mexico time. The Curator shall use Brazil time. From 27 June 2026 until 4 July 2026, each Party shall transmit a daily message stating “CLOCK IN” to the other Parties. All messages shall be retained within the Exhibition archive.
Gabriela Román González, Independently Authored Contractual Artwork, 2026. Displayed on a metal ring installed at the centre of the exhibition. The actions set out in the contract were conceived as part of the artistic gesture, whether or not they resulted in a physical work or intervention within the exhibition.
Ilê Sartuzi, Independently Authored Contractual Artwork, 2026. Displayed on a metal ring installed at the centre of the exhibition. The actions set out in the contract were conceived as part of the artistic gesture, whether or not they resulted in a physical work or intervention within the exhibition.
Débora Delmar, Independently Authored Contractual Artwork, 2026. Displayed on a metal ring installed at the centre of the exhibition. The actions set out in the contract were conceived as part of the artistic gesture, whether or not they resulted in a physical work or intervention within the exhibition.
Débora Delmar - Brief III, 2026 - A timeline presenting key developments in British immigration legislation since 1948, corresponding with the arrival of the Empire Windrush and the beginning of significant post-war migration to Britain, shall be installed across wall panels 2, 3, 5, and 6 as a continuous line of text. Produced in light grey vinyl and set in Helvetica Neue, a typeface commonly employed within British governmental and administrative communications, the legislative instruments referenced therein shall be retained within the Exhibition archive.
Débora Delmar, Brief VII, 2026. As set out in the contract: Débora Delmar and Gabriela Román González agreed to acquire one imported good from Brixton Market on their way to the opening of the Exhibition. These were placed within the Exhibition space and subsequently consumed by the Parties.
Certificate of Independence, 2026. Visitors were invited to sign the certificate and access the participants’ negotiation log, offering a glimpse into the conversations and negotiations through which the exhibition was developed.
Negotiation Log, 2026. A record of the conversations and negotiations between Débora Delmar, Ilê Sartuzi and Gabriela Román González throughout the development of Independence.
Ilê Sartuzi. Letter sent on the first day of the exhibition from the artist’s current location in Prato, Italy. It was established in the agreements that, if the letter reached Brixton House before the end of the exhibition, it would be displayed. The letter did not arrive in time and was delivered to Gabriela Román González’s home two weeks after the exhibition closed.