oral history museum

4
Context Treignac is situated in the Park National Regional, on the Vezere river, it has a population of 1400 where on average 50% of the population are over retire- ment age. It also has a wide range of temporary inhabitants and visitors; from second homeowners, tourists, artists and migrants from all over the world. There is a desire for Treignac to retrieve some of its former prosperity and for it to provide more varied local work, but also for it to retain its own special quiet quality of life. We suggest combining the facilities and resources available to an arts project, with the collecting and sharing function of an oral history archive. The arts project, with its access to different networks of ideas and artists, can engage with the different layers of the population, collecting life-stories and preserving both the local traditions of indigenous populations and the sto- ries and understanding of those who have arrived from further a field, by treat- ing traditional and travelled histories side by side we can capture our local histories and observe the world in flux. bus stop researcher sociologist ethnographist local history group sharing data paris : 372 km treignac 1,468 40 km2 45° 32' 13'' N, 1° 47' 43'' E limoges 139,026 1,781/km2 45° 50' 4'' N, 1° 15' 42'' E paris 2,203,817 20,909 /km2 48° 51' 24'' N, 2° 21' 3'' E 11.5% MUSÉE DE TRADITION ORALE Horizon de la population de Treignac (2005) 88.2% 74.5% 11.8% 64.9% Habitants de la même région (5 ans avant) Habitants de la même commune (5 ans avant) Habitants d'autre région ou étranger (5 ans avant) Habitants le même logement (5 ans avant) Emménagement sur le village de Treignac de moins de 5 ans 26.6% 16.8% 56.6% Ancienneté moyenne d'emménagement 18 ans de 5 ans à 9 ans de 10 ans ou plus The steady decrease of traditional inhabitants in many remote areas as such on the Plateau de Millevache, has been accompanied by an influx of new populations hoping to find a home in these areas. These new populations often have little connection with the area and lack knowledge of its histories and culture and so import their own living sepa- rately or unaware of the wealth of local culture. Similarly the chance to access different methods and points of view can be lost if there is no chance to interact between host and incoming peoples. This can lead to the already sparse populations operating on completely different circuits within the same commune. They can begin to have less and less in common and fewer chances to exchange ideas or experience. Within a popu- lation that is also becoming more aged, and attractive to retirement migra- tions, the problem of isolation becomes more marked. Areas normally designated rural exhibit an urbanism tending towards zero density where the number of possible points of exchange, through work, rec- reation, and learning, are greatly reduced. The countryside’s aging population is a huge resource of experience and tradition and it will be crucial to opti- mise access to this to improve the quality of life after retirement. We believe that to access this resource of experience we need to create a neutral platform for encountering different opinions and life stories which can then also give space to these exchanges to develop so that they can produce lively debate and creative discussion. The aim of the project is to establish a pro- gramme of activities that will auto direct the evo- lution of the museum. Therefore the building ele- ments need to be flexible and movable, and need to be able to be integrated into a variety of differ- ent structures. Inspired by the gramophone record horn, these Pentagon cones are light and can be assembled into a variety of shapes and have the added ben- efit of amplifying sound so that very low sound output can be used without creating noise pollu- tion or using excessive energy. Transportation is a key issue in considering any sparsely urbanised area and the bus stop network joins many sections of society together whilst performing its vital infrastructure service. Start- ing a collection of oral history from these points gives the project visibility, it catches people at a moment when they have time to listen and to join in and bus stop structures are already in place. Listening and recording devices can be easily installed in to bus stops, with the distinctive cones making it easy to see that something is going on. This will give us a museum infrastruc- ture that is spread out over a network of links. Volunteers will engage people, asking questions and starting discussions and the resulting data can be played back through the bus stop network, as well as being useful to researchers and soci- ologists. It will also be entertaining to tourists and educating for children, these bus stops can act as a focal point for sharing information about different districts and events occurring in the De- partment. The data collected will also be used to start the next stage of the museum.

Upload: acid-mist

Post on 10-Mar-2016

226 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Oral History Museum; a platform for low density cultural and economic regeneration

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Oral History Museum

Context

Treignac is situated in the Park National Regional, on the Vezere river, it has a population of 1400 where on average 50% of the population are over retire-ment age. It also has a wide range of temporary inhabitants and visitors; from second homeowners, tourists, artists and migrants from all over the world.

There is a desire for Treignac to retrieve some of its former prosperity and for it to provide more varied local work, but also for it to retain its own special quiet quality of life. We suggest combining the facilities and resources available to an arts project, with the collecting and sharing function of an oral history archive. The arts project, with its access to different networks of ideas and artists, can engage with the different layers of the population, collecting life-stories and preserving both the local traditions of indigenous populations and the sto-ries and understanding of those who have arrived from further a field, by treat-ing traditional and travelled histories side by side we can capture our local histories and observe the world in flux.

bus stop

researcher

sociologist

ethnographist

local history group

sharing data

paris

: 372

km

trei

gnac

1,468 40 km2

45° 3

2' 1

3'' N

, 1° 4

7' 4

3'' E

limog

es

139,026 1,781/km2

45° 5

0' 4

'' N, 1

° 15'

42'

' E

pari

s

2,203,81720,909 /km2

48° 5

1' 2

4'' N

, 2° 2

1' 3

'' E

11.5%

MUSÉE DE TRADITION ORALE

Horizon de la population de Treignac (2005)

88.2%

74.5%

11.8%

64.9%

Habitants de la même région (5 ans avant)

Habitants de la même commune (5 ans avant)

Habitants d'autre région ou étranger (5 ans avant)

Habitants le même logement (5 ans avant)

Emménagement sur le village de Treignac

de moins de 5 ans26.6%

16.8%

56.6%

Ancienneté moyenne d'emménagement 18 ans

de 5 ans à 9 ans

de 10 ans ou plus

The steady decrease of traditional inhabitants in many remote areas as such on the Plateau de Millevache, has been accompanied by an influx of new populations hoping to find a home in these areas. These new populations often have little connection with the area and lack knowledge of its histories and culture and so import their own living sepa-rately or unaware of the wealth of local culture.

Similarly the chance to access different methods and points of view can be lost if there is no chance to interact between host and incoming peoples. This can lead to the already sparse populations operating on completely different circuits within the same commune. They can begin to have less and less in common and fewer chances to exchange ideas or experience. Within a popu-lation that is also becoming more aged, and attractive to retirement migra-tions, the problem of isolation becomes more marked. Areas normally designated rural exhibit an urbanism tending towards zero density where the number of possible points of exchange, through work, rec-reation, and learning, are greatly reduced. The countryside’s aging population is a huge resource of experience and tradition and it will be crucial to opti-mise access to this to improve the quality of life after retirement. We believe that to access this resource of experience we need to create a neutral platform for encountering different opinions and life stories which can then also give space to these exchanges to develop so that they can produce lively debate and creative discussion.

The aim of the project is to establish a pro-gramme of activities that will auto direct the evo-lution of the museum. Therefore the building ele-ments need to be flexible and movable, and need to be able to be integrated into a variety of differ-ent structures.

Inspired by the gramophone record horn, these Pentagon cones are light and can be assembled into a variety of shapes and have the added ben-efit of amplifying sound so that very low sound output can be used without creating noise pollu-tion or using excessive energy.

Transportation is a key issue in considering any sparsely urbanised area and the bus stop network joins many sections of society together whilst performing its vital infrastructure service. Start-ing a collection of oral history from these points gives the project visibility, it catches people at a moment when they have time to listen and to join in and bus stop structures are already in place. Listening and recording devices can be easily installed in to bus stops, with the distinctive cones making it easy to see that something is going on. This will give us a museum infrastruc-ture that is spread out over a network of links.

Volunteers will engage people, asking questions and starting discussions and the resulting data can be played back through the bus stop network, as well as being useful to researchers and soci-ologists. It will also be entertaining to tourists and educating for children, these bus stops can act as a focal point for sharing information about different districts and events occurring in the De-partment.

The data collected will also be used to start the next stage of the museum.

Page 2: Oral History Museum

gallery

art

prod

uct

node

data

grou

p

grou

p

Food

Housing

Leisure

Politics

Work

Sleep

Where do you imagineyou will be in the future

(near or far)

Reasons forimmigration

Routes takento arrive

what is in your roomshared housesingle home

sport

meeting frieds athome

going to barswhat other places

hours of sleeptrouble sleeping

politicaleconomicother

lived in a citylived in countrysidecountry of origin

how long did it take beforearriving in Treignac

who did you leave behindwhat happened along the way

DATA

Subjective experiences

impressionsfearsvisionsmoodsdreamsnightmares

is there a senseof community

which areas are frequented what transport usedfoot vehicle

Mobility

Communicationcall back homecall friends in Franceuse internet

Adding an art gallery

One of the limitations of presenting ethnographic material is that the data is long and difficult to absorb. It takes many hours to transcribe or make acces-sible in standard ways, and the ordinary museum format is sometimes not ideal for showing it. We will invite Artists to work with ethnographers to de-velop new ways to present and understand the material and to draw out themes & trends to make oral history interesting and accessible.

Mat

erial a

dds to th

e muse

ums c

ollect

ion as

Dat

a

Artworks are produced

Di�

eren

t gro

ups

inte

ract

with

the

artw

orks

to p

rodu

ce m

ore

data

Artis

ts w

ill w

ork

dire

ctly

with

a g

roup

to cr

eate

new

mat

eria

l

Material adds to the m

useums collection as Data

the vocal recordings of a group of people from di�erent backgrounds in Naples were use

d in

mus

ical

impr

ovisa

tion N

ÕDE

guest curatorsociologist architectartist

�lte

r of r

aw data (interpretation)

Page 3: Oral History Museum

community spacemobile performance platform

local community groups: dance folklorique discothèque

Treignac age demographic

La population de Treignac (1999 -2005)

hommes

femmes

45.7% +0.1%

54.3% -0.1%

Nombre d'habitants 1,389 -2.1%

15.7% -1.9%

17.8% -1.7%

26.8% +3.3%

39.7% +0.4%

11.5%

Femmes Classe d'âge Hommes

0 à 19

20 à 39

40 à 59

59 à plus

-1.9% 11.7%

+3.4% 23.3%

-1.5% 53.4%

buy

place

drawmove

cut

glue

oral hist

ory muse

um/walk

Small villages and towns cannot provide the audience numbers required to keep a full range of performance related activities funded and housed. Using a mobile stage and venue that is flexible enough to respond to a range of presentations, these facilities can be brought into a vil-lage when there is demand for them. This will give local associations the chance to use professional equipment, but share the cost over a wide group despite being iso-lated or of low population.

chorale inter'val

Page 4: Oral History Museum

I

II

III

IV

I

II

III

IV

bus stop: collecting a museum

artists: using the collection

platforms: enhancing the local

audio city: tourism, innovation, economy

local associations

chorale inter'val comite de jumelage

familles rurales kind of belou

o�ce de tourisme societe de chasse danse folklorique

les amis de la vezere

lang d'octroubadour tradition

Once the network and infra-structure based platforms have been established, local interest and demand will begin to lead the project in a locally specific way. This will trigger an increase in demand for the facility by en-couraging quality and new skills through sharing and exchange. At this point it will become possible to es-tablish a permanent base that can act as the hub for the region. This will encour-age tourism, and enhance local economy by attracting larger shows as well as cre-ating a focus for the areas traditional culture and his-tory.

cinema,

music festival

touring dance shows

theatre

circus

performance works

children's work shops

puppet theatre

rock concerts

classical concerts

electronic music

tourism

audio city