Cultural heritage, curation & creativity

Week 01 - Introduction & Constituting Cultural Heritage

Course structure
Studio-practicum course Weekly lectures / seminar discussions Independent projects Group project Studio crit presentations Final project report

Weekly Lectures
Each week 2 students will work together to present the readings assigned for discussion that week. Signup for specic weeks will be available online. Additional content will be presented by Dr Russell.

Readings
All readings will be made available digitally via Dropbox. Additionally readings may be assigned/changed as deemed necessary throughout the course to address any unexpected trajectories of interest in the class.

Assignments
There are 4 written assignments - totalling approximately 10-12 pages. There are a series of deadlines relating to the independent projects which will be treated as assignments.

Independent projects
A project proposal including a statement, project description, academic rationale, timeline and outline of nal deliverables. The proposal must also include plans address practical issues of health and safety, audience engagement, publicity/communicaiton, execution, etc. An oral presentation to the class in a studio critique format. A written project report supported by research, evidence and argumentation and addressing the readings and discussions of the entire course. This must also include a self assessment of the critical successes and fails of the project in respect to the initial project proposals stated ambitions, intentions and outcomes. It must also demonstrate an engagement with the perspectives and feedback from the in class studio presentations. A revised project proposal demonstrating critical, practical and professional development based on the experience of the executing the project and critical feedback from the in class studio critiques. The revised proposal should be presented as if it were being submitted to granting body as a professional project.

Group project
Students will collaboratively conceptualize, develop and implement a creative cultural heritage project which be featured in Aprils Gallery Night. All students will be required to participate in the development, execution, reection and evaluation of the program in both written and oral forms.

Field trips and lm nights

These are designed to enrich and provide practical application of critical thought. There will be one eld trip to Fall River to visit Battleship Cove. This will be on a Saturday. There will be two lm nights.

cultural heritage

cultural heritage : natural heritage

UNESCO CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF THE WORLD CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE
For the purpose of this Convention, the following shall be considered as "cultural heritage": monuments: architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and combinations of features, which are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science; groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science; sites: works of man or the combined works of nature and man, and areas including archaeological sites which are of outstanding universal value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view.

UNESCO CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF THE WORLD CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE

For the purposes of this Convention, the following shall be considered as "natural heritage": natural features consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal value from the aesthetic or scientic point of view; geological and physiographical formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation; natural sites or precisely delineated natural areas of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty.

culture : nature

heritage

intangible heritage

UNESCO CONVENTION FOR THE SAFEGUARDING OF THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

The intangible cultural heritage means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. For the purposes of this Convention, consideration will be given solely to such intangible cultural heritage as is compatible with existing international human rights instruments, as well as with the requirements of mutual respect among communities, groups and individuals, and of sustainable development.

UNESCO CONVENTION FOR THE SAFEGUARDING OF THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

The intangible cultural heritage, as dened in paragraph 1 above, is manifested inter alia in the following domains: (a) oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage; (b) performing arts; (c) social practices, rituals and festive events; (d) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; (e) traditional craftsmanship.

intangible

tangible : intangible

what is heritage?
Things/Objects Performances Ideas Economics (126,700 full-time jobs = 1 in 12 jobs) Ecologies Space - social agreements Legislature People

what is heritage?
Exchange relationship between two Arborescence - family trees and inheritance (grown out of specic European context) Lineages and linear temporalities Who are the inheritors (ethno-politics) Genetic Kinship A negotiable concept/relationship

heritages and group identities

in everyday life, human beings grasp elements of the material world, and constitute them as evidence for past human practice archaeology as science is based on this prescientic way of being attuned to the world -Julian Thomas 1996

FREUDS OFFICE
MARESFIELD GARDENS, LONDON - HTTP://WWW.FREUD.ORG.UK/

FREUDS OFFICE - SAXA LOQUUNTUR!

MARESFIELD GARDENS, LONDON - HTTP://WWW.FREUD.ORG.UK/

The two processes are in fact identical, except that the analyst works under better conditions and has more material at his command to assist him, since what he is dealing with is not something destroyed but something that is still alive and perhaps for another reason as well. But just as the archaeologist builds up the walls of the building from the foundations that have remained standing, determines the number and position of the columns from depressions in the oor and reconstructs the mural decorations and paintings from the remains found in the debris, so does the analyst proceed when he draws his inferences from the fragments of memories, from the associations and from the behaviour of the subject of the analysis.
Sigmund Freud, Constructions in Analysis in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. XXIII, James Strachey (ed.). (London: 1964): 257-269.

all psychoanalytic knowledge must begin with the individuals relations with others (Greenberg and Mitchell 1983: 9)

maypole or leader tethers or leader-follower interaction

FREUDS MAYPOLE OF LEADER-FOLLOWER INTERACTION

AFTER VOLKAN 2003

a sustained feeling of inner sameness within oneself [and] a persistent sharing of some kind of essential character with others. -Eric Erickson, 1956 the subjective experience of thousands or millions of people who are connected by a persistent sense of similitude -Vamik Volkan, 2003

Tent Canvas or Group Intra-Action (tethers become threads and are woven together ) (maypole now has additional role of keeping tent up)

Tent Pole or Leader

Group exists under tent as protection, keeping pole up (leader in power), maintaining integrity of canvas and keeping it taught

VOLKANS TENT OF LARGE GROUP IDENTITY

AFTER VOLKAN 2003

VOLKANS MODEL OF LARGE GROUP IDENTITY

AFTER VOLKAN 2003

Relativity of intersubjective relationships Object about which (or whom) an individual speaks will not necessarily behave in a way that another observer of the same object would conrm (Greenberg and Mitchell 1983)

VOLKANS MODEL OF LARGE GROUP IDENTITY

AFTER VOLKAN 2003

VOLKANS MODEL OF LARGE GROUP IDENTITY

AFTER VOLKAN 2003

VOLKANS MODEL OF LARGE GROUP IDENTITY

AFTER VOLKAN 2003

despite apparent multiplicity and intersubjectivity

Epistemophilia, the lusty search for knowledge of origins, is everywhere -Donna Haraway 1997, 255

linearity hierarchical progress driven entrenched in the politics of verticality

citizenship and heritage

being of someone/somewhere (royal/serfdom) being from somewhere (nation/blood/ethnological) being somewhere (civic/community participation - ecological sensibilities)

Generalising Structurally the same across phenomena Partibility Boundaries/divisions/surfaces Stratication

Universal constants, but no singular structural form

MYCELLIA

A fruiting body the fruit is not distinct from the mycelia but is a continuation and is permeated by it

MYCELLIA

Biopulping and regeneration Phanerochaete chrysohiza helps to crumble a forest log into compost

Symbiotic ecological process converts decay to create fertile ground for new possibilities

MYCELLIA

Shotgun fungus (Piloblus) feeding and growing upon rabbit dung

Feeds off the decay of material residues (past events)

MYCELLIA

The Silent Stalkers The predatory movements of Cordyceps myrmecophila

They can be invasive and destructive in their acts of creation

MYCELLIA

Ergot - caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea

Impacts across perceived natural boundaries Mycological process and its performance have social consequences

MYCELLIA

heritages are constitutional

1937 Bunreacht na hEireann

Act 2 - It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish Nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualied in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland. Furthermore, the Irish nation cherishes its special afnity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage.

CAROLINE MCCARTHY
GREETINGS (1996)

WILLIAM ORPEN
THE HOLY WELL (1916)

WILLIAM ORPEN
THE HERITAGE SERIES (1913-1916)

heritage and inheritors

... to the noble ends of education there must be, within the school system and within the school, an adequate inspiration ... inspiration will ... come from hero-stories of the world, and especially of our own people. ... A heroic tale is more essentially a factor in education than a proposition in Euclid. ... A new education system in Ireland has to do more than restore a national culture. It has to restore manhood to a race that has been deprived of it. Along with its inspiration it must, therefore, bring a certain hardening. It must lead Ireland back to her sagas.
P. Pearse from Back to the Sagas originally part of lecture delivered in the Dublin Mansion House in December 1912. Reproduced in a pamphlet in 1916

For many people it is the artefact or monument itself that symbolises the identity of a people. The images such as those printed on the front cover of every school childs homework copy as a daily reminder of the physical manifestation of our heritage are part of what we are the Ardagh Chalice, the Tara Brooch, the Monasterboice High Cross and the Borrisnoe Collar.
Michael D. Higgins, 1993, then Minister of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht

if its our heritage, who are the we?

heritage

heritages

heritages are sentiments

heritages are nonsense

heritages are about people

people with things

people with things in spaces

It turns out that the oldest meaning of the English and German word for thing concerns an assembly brought together to discuss disputed matters of concern. Hence the focus on the slogan FROM REALPOLITIK TO DINGPOLITIK, a neologism invented for the show. This major shift is reected in the aesthetic of the show, in the ways in which the over one hundred installations and works of art are presented, and in the general physical and virtual architecture. What we are trying to do is compare modernist with non-modern attitudes to objects. In effect we are moving FROM OBJECTS TO THINGS.
Bruno Latour & Peter Wiebel Making Things Public (2005)

the discursive realm

Tue Greenfort Frieze Art Fair (2008)

contemporary curates

constituting publics
Roman Ondak Good Feelings in Good Times - Frieze Art Fair 2003

diverse
The Dublin Multicultural Resource Centre www.placingvoices.com

transgenerational
North Dublin Centre Community Action Project www.placingvoices.com

multi-vocal
North Dublin Centre Community Action Project www.placingvoices.com

collaborative
Lourdes Day Care The Monto, Dublin

constitutional
NSK www.nskstate.com

Alfredo Jaar One million replicated Finnish passports (1995)

social sculpture
Francis Alys When faith moves mountains (2002)

consensus
Francis Alys When faith moves mountains (2002)

shared everyday
Star Ferry Pier Terminal Hong Kong, SAR, China

civil rights
Star Ferry Pier Demonstrations Hong Kong SAR, China (2006)

integrity

transgression
Skran Moral Hamam (1997)

transgression
Banksy West Bank Barrier (2005)

risk
David Cerny & the Neostunners Monument to Soviet tank crews (1991)

running room
Caroline Tissdale Joesph Beuys Bog Action (1974)

(un)stable
Old I-195, Providence, Rhode Island www.iarchitectures.com/roadscore.html

PROJECT

ROADSCORE
APRIL-MAY 2010

WITH FIONA HALLINAN

DATE CLIENT

JNBC & TAG 2010

PROJECT

ROADSCORE
APRIL-MAY 2010

WITH FIONA HALLINAN

DATE CLIENT

JNBC & TAG 2010

PROJECT

ROADSCORE
APRIL-MAY 2010

WITH FIONA HALLINAN

DATE CLIENT

JNBC & TAG 2010

unexpected
PROJECT DATE

2008-2009

Jewish History Museum WWW.PLACINGVOICES.COM Clonbrassil Street, Dublin

PROJECT

THE POSTCARD PROJECT

WITH BETSEY BIGGS
SEPT 2011 - JAN 2012
CLIENT

DATE

URBAN CULTURAL HERITAGES & CREATIVE PRACTICE

PROJECT

THE CURT TEICH POSTCARD ARCHIVE

heritage is something we make

heritage is something we make together