Bugarin + Castle

Angel Cohn Castle & Davide Bugarin
Sore Throat, Moving image 19 minutes 29 seconds, 2023

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An interactive film installation that explores how sound overheard through walls has impacted queer people and spaces in the Philippines, where the interpretation of sound is informed by monstrous mythology and the distortions of colonisation and gentrification. In the film’s glowing midnight world, a character played by Davide Bugarin shapeshifts between matador, coloniser, emcee and young queer Filipino. Shot on location in Manila and in a constructed space, the 20-minute film blends cabaret and moving image with a new interactive technology, developed with Studio Autonomic. As in live cabaret, the on-screen performer breaks the fourth wall and commands the audience to make noises, both adorative and animalistic. Theatrical backdrops, costuming and song fill this illusionistic world, where monstrosity lingers but cannot be pinned

Bugarin + Castle’s recent interactive film Sore Throat, shot in Edinburgh and Manila, explored colonial monsters and sound in queer Filipino spaces, showing in a solo exhibition at Fruitmarket as well as at Tate Modern and international venues. Via custom software, gallery audience voices were unknowingly recorded and replayed within the film, implicating them as antagonists in its narrative. Bugarin + Castle also perform in drag as Hairy Teddy Bear and Pollyfilla, through Pollyanna, a Scottish queer arts company founded by Castle, now in its 10th year.

The artist’s work has been exhibited at leading UK institutions including Tate Modern, ICA: Institute of Contemporary Art, Fruitmarket and City Art Centre. Internationally, their work has been shown at Microscope Gallery (USA) and Krittinen Gallery (Finland), and will be in upcoming exhibitions at Tromsø Centre for Contemporary Art (Norway), Photographic Centre Peri (Finland), WHYNoT Space (Philippines), and Cypher, (Greece). Individually, they have a wide international practice. Davide Bugarin’s work has been featured at the Malta Biennale (2024) and the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2025. He has also participated in a residency at Venice Biennale of Architecture 2023, selected by the Biennale curator. He was part of the New Architecture Writers programme, contributing to The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal. He has received awards and scholarships from Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Worshipful Company of Architects and Burberry. Bugarin recently completed a research fellowship at The Warburg Institute, who have supported the initial research for this Scotland + Venice project. Angel Cohn Castle’s work has been commissioned by BBC Scotland, LUX Scotland and Talbot Rice Gallery, and exhibited at galleries including Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany) and BALTIC (UK). As founder of Pollyanna, she has produced exhibitions at Royal Scottish Academy, Stirling Castle and international galleries. She is currently Lecturer in Fine Art at Newcastle University, and was previously Teaching Fellow in Fine Art at The University of Edinburgh.
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