An Impossible Sound

In spring 2026 the Dutch-based English-born artist Rory Pilgrim presents a new, immersive commission at Vleeshal that foregrounds the choices faced by young people in regional areas.

The exhibition is the next chapter in Pilgrim’s long-term engagement with young people on the Isle of Portland in England - a peninsula dominated by two prisons and a unique natural landscape. The exhibition presents scenes towards Pilgrim’s first feature-length film set to be released in 2027 entitled pink & green, focusing on the film's musical score. Exploring a musical loop as a vital component within composition, the exhibition's title An Impossible Sound refers to a moment in which a cycle of harm can potentially be broken, offering the possibility of renewal and transformation.

Unfolding as a musical journey, along the way the audience will meet some of the film's key protagonists including best friends Ellia and Chloe, who are navigating choices about their futures beyond the island and how this impacts their friendship, as well as hearing the voice of the island itself, embodied by singer Robyn Haddon. With the film script developed with young people and men imprisoned at HMP Portland Prison, the exhibition showcases the vital moments of friendship, connection and dialogue amongst the island’s fragile landscape pitted with stone quarries and threat of a rubbish incinerator.

Previously developed in exhibitions at Chisenhale Gallery London, and Art on the Underground, Vleeshal is proud to present this next stage of this body of work that explores sonic loops, together with video installation, photographs and drawing. Across video, composition and drawing, the exhibition explores the law and how harmful ecological and social cycles can be intervened.

Vleeshal welcomes Pilgrim’s focus on life for young people in a regional peninsula, and will explore connections with young people from Zeeland. The exhibition will conclude with a special program developed in collaboration with the participants of Vleeshal’s ‘Team V’ talent-development program that is supported by Provincie Zeeland.

Events

4 April

Opening An Impossible Sound

1 – 3 pm