s i t e s p e c i f i c: Research Proposal

Dissecting the site: an investigation of space, place and memory

in Central Manchester Hospitals.

Academic Aim: To employ the site of the Central Manchester Hospitals in a practice-led exploration of the fluidity of space, place and memory.

Objectives:

· To use counter-cartographic practices to map the hospital site, including lost sites and to identify what unrecorded data can be discovered in this process.

· To explore the contested relationship between place and space in the development of the hospital site through visual practice.

· To collect and critically assess examples of subversion or reformulation of the planned elements of the site by patients and staff.

· To create memorials to social memories about the site which capture the quality of locus.

Introduction

In my art practice, I uncover hidden narratives, and use the material qualities of site and story to create visual art which speaks of what Christian Boltanski calls ‘small memories’. Recent work has included artists’ books mapping the changing landscape of working class areas of Manchester and Salford, and the collaborative project ‘Manchester Time Piece’ which plotted the passage of time across the city using the shadow of the Beetham Tower.

In this part time, practice-led MA by research, through the opportunities afforded by my artist’s residency with Lime Arts, I will collect documented and undocumented, historic and contemporary material and use counter-cartographic mapping and counter-memorial practices to consider the relationship between space, place and memory at the site of Central Manchester hospitals.

According to cultural geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, undifferentiated space becomes place as it is endowed with value through a process of human connection (Cresswell, 2004). Cresswell highlights the conflict that arises from competing relationships with the same space since ignoring the place-qualities of space may devalue human attachments, connections and memories (Cresswell, 2004).

For Connerton issues of place are compounded by the effects of the speed, mobility and scale of modern life, which has impaired our ability to remember (Connerton, 2009). He defines two types of place memory, the memorial, which removes the need to remember and the locus, which relates to the known and the familiar and is threatened by the decreasing life expectancy of our surroundings. Nevertheless recent research utilising mapping practices suggests that despite the destruction of homes and landmarks, locus can remain strong (Kealy-Morris, 2008). In addition, Young distinguishes between the memorial and the counter-monument, which sustains memory through an acknowledgement of human temporality (Young, 1992).

Cartographic maps usually present a picture of the world that reflects the dominant culture and yet are seen as ‘factual statements that are essentially neutral, objective and above political and grubbily material concerns’. (Blunt et al., 2003 p 172) Counter- or radical cartography focuses on ‘the kinds of information usually omitted in conventional maps’ (Berwick, 2010 p1), such as the CUP map of work conditions in global shipping networks or Christian Nold’s Emotion Maps (Nold, 2007).

The creation of this kind of map allows a different strata of society to define their world, to identify what is important, to see connections and make decisions which reflect the new information. Gold’s community mapping project in North Carolina highlighted demographic differences which do not appear on cartographic maps (Harmon, 2004). Such maps show the ways that the planned environments of modern cities are nevertheless ‘eroded by the tactical manoeuvring of inhabitants’ (Ingold, 2002-5 p11).

Both maps and memorials can become substitutes for remembering, replacing locus with something concrete that fixes memory firmly in the past. However Keeley-Morris’s work shows that ‘Place’ remains after the actual place has gone, because the sense of attachment is not to a geographical point on a map, but to a memory. As de Certeau says, ‘Haunted places are the only ones people can live in.’ (de Certeau, 1984 p108) This research, by using counter-cartographic and counter-memorial practices in mapping the lost sites of the hospital, will attempt to find visual ways for the fluidity of space, place and memory to be exposed.

In creating work that attempts to memorialize locus, consideration will be given to the writing of Hatherley (Hatherley, 2010) and Williams (Williams, 2004) who are both highly critical of the use of ‘urban memory’ in public art projects. Williams argues that it is used to avoid doing something tangible to improve the physical environment, celebrates the mundane and censors dissent. Lacy is also concerned that public art may ignore other interpretations of the situation, and argues for the involvement of diverse communities and their concerns (Lacy, 1995).

Methodology

Using grounded theory, the collection and selection of information followed by thematic analysis will inform the focus of the visual practice in a process of emergence through reflexivity. (Smith & Dean, 2009)

During year one, I will access the hospital archive and the archives of Lime Arts to select historic and contemporary data about the hospital site. Lime Arts will also provide key contacts and further contacts will be identified through snowball methods and advertising. Oral testimony in the form of memories associated with the hospital site will be collected through iterative methods, including semi-structured interviews and e-mail correspondence. Observation in public parts of the hospital will reveal whether the embodied practices of patients, visitors and staff follow the planned environment and this material will be used in the counter-cartographic visual production.

During the first half of year 2, employing journals and sketchbooks, I will use this data to create a body of work which develops my practice of bringing into consciousness forgotten or disregarded narrative. I will reflect on the aesthetics of the work, and also use Pinder’s model which is concerned with ‘the cultural geographies of the city relating to subjectivity, representation and memory’ (Pinder, 2001) In the final six months, I will finish writing up the research and complete the output, which will emerge through the research and reflection process, and will include a 10-15,000 word written report and either an artists’ book or exhibition.

	Oct –Dec 11	Jan – Mar 12	Apr – Jun 12	Jul – Sep 12	Oct –Dec 12	Jan – Mar 13	Apr – Jun 13	Jul – Sep 13
RD1
Literature review
Data collection and visual experimentation
Visual output
Written report