Act I of my graduation project, providing me with the conceptual lens of 'shady heritage'.
This research began with a reflection on how the historiographic process unfolds in the built environment.
The selective curation of facts in the writing of History with a capital H.
1- The datum points shown here are the happenings that make up the many pasts that preceded us. These are people, events, locations that resulted in individual and/or collective memories.
2- Certain data points within the past – shown in black- conform with the desired image of the past, while others, in beige, do not conform with this desired vision.
3- The desired points provide anchors to the curation of the hegemonic historical narrative. The historical narrative provides us with a specific, goal-oriented lens to reflect on and use the past.
4- This narrative - which initially was immaterial, existing in the historiographic realm can then be translated into urban terms. Effectively, some data points of the past become spatial points, pinned into the earth. Architecturally, these locations correspond to the typologies of memory (plaques, monuments, memorials) as well as non-specific buildings whose perceived importance in commemorating the past has loaned them legitimacy, crowing them with the title of 'heritage.'
2- Certain data points within the past – shown in black- conform with the desired image of the past, while others, in beige, do not conform with this desired vision.
3- The desired points provide anchors to the curation of the hegemonic historical narrative. The historical narrative provides us with a specific, goal-oriented lens to reflect on and use the past.
4- This narrative - which initially was immaterial, existing in the historiographic realm can then be translated into urban terms. Effectively, some data points of the past become spatial points, pinned into the earth. Architecturally, these locations correspond to the typologies of memory (plaques, monuments, memorials) as well as non-specific buildings whose perceived importance in commemorating the past has loaned them legitimacy, crowing them with the title of 'heritage.'
Source : Conversations with Friends? by Caron Oty, age 18.
We write history like blackout poetry, redacting the content which doesn't fit the chosen storyline. However, while impromptu poets take a permanent marker to newspapers making the redaction visible, the intervention of the historians is more subtle, preventing from those words from ever being written in the first place.
First image : Photo of Germaine Krull's book 'Marseille' published in June 1930. The translated note reads: 'This street seems mute. Listen: it echos like a drum.' Little did Krull know how much that street was to scream indeed...
Following frames : Photos from the destruction of the Vieux Port under German occupation in 1943. The Neighbourhood was mostly inhabited by Jews and according to Nazi ideology needed to be erased.
First frame : Photo of l'Hôtel de Cabre in 1944. Its heritage status protected it from the targeted destruction of the Vieux Port.
Following frames : l'Hôtel de Cabre as visible on Google Maps in 2019.
Heritagatisation - meaning the selection of buildings which facilitate the perpetuation of a chosen narrative - and Deliberate erasure - of buildings who hinder the desired image of the past -are the right-hand man of historiographic process at work in the city. These two elements enable the built environment to curate a highly partisan vision of the past, thus making it a priceless propaganda tool.
The feedback loop between the built environment and the intangible historiographic realm.
1- Historical narratives are inscribed into the built environment.
2- However, the reverse is also possible: the built environment can affect how we relate to pasts.
3- Therefore, there is a feedback loop between the built environment and the intangible historiographic realm. As Churchill memorably said, "we shape our building and thereafter they shape us."
2- However, the reverse is also possible: the built environment can affect how we relate to pasts.
3- Therefore, there is a feedback loop between the built environment and the intangible historiographic realm. As Churchill memorably said, "we shape our building and thereafter they shape us."
The disappearance of non-hegemonic past facts
1- The non-normative data points in the past which were not immortalised into the hegemonic History are recounted neither in history books, nor the city.
2- Shady sites get overwritten due to their lacking legitimacy when claiming to historical value. Their essence, which deviates from the beaten historical path, condemns them to disappear.
2- Shady sites get overwritten due to their lacking legitimacy when claiming to historical value. Their essence, which deviates from the beaten historical path, condemns them to disappear.
However, not seeing something does not prevent it from impacting our present.It is not because attempts have been made at erasing shunned narratives, that they no longer have an impact.
The leads us to my concept: SHADY HERITAGE.
Skeletons in the Closet - Eddie and The Subtitles (1981)
SHADY HERITAGE refers to the metaphorical skeletons in the closet of a city's past.
SHADY in the literal sense, means 'located in or causing shade', and by extension 'out of sight'. In the figurative sense, SHADY is 'sneaky, suspect, of doubtful honesty or legality.'
HERITAGE relates to 'both the debts and riches we inherit from past generations.'
SHADY HERITAGE materialises in SHADY HERITAGE SITES. Metaphorically, these are unhealed wounds in the built fabric which stand as material witnesses to the ubiquity of shady narratives.
Shady is neither black not white, but an ambivalent shade of grey.
Shady can be a presence or an absence.
Shady is both universal and specific, as it relates to both widespread systems of oppression and their incidental consequences.
Shady is relative - to a person, a culture, a period. What was once shady, may no longer be, once brought into the light.
Shady is slow and insidious, spanning decades if not centuries.
Shady is complicated as it relates to entangled narratives that constitute the building blocks of society.
Shady can be a presence or an absence.
Shady is both universal and specific, as it relates to both widespread systems of oppression and their incidental consequences.
Shady is relative - to a person, a culture, a period. What was once shady, may no longer be, once brought into the light.
Shady is slow and insidious, spanning decades if not centuries.
Shady is complicated as it relates to entangled narratives that constitute the building blocks of society.
Shadiness is self-reinforcing, beginning in its figurative sense, whereby a past event or memory is shunned as it does not conform to the desired image of the past. Following this, the narrative is repressed both in the historiographic realm and in the built fabric. The disappearance of Shady Heritage Sites leads to literal shadiness. Consequently, this physical absence reinforces the ‘otherness’ of the non-conforming narrative making it more suspicious. As they say, 'out of sight, out of mind.'
The feedback loop between the built and historic realm, highlights that a change in the city enables a reconsideration of historical slights. Indeed, buildings provide a physical presence to the past, making narratives legible. There is a need for context-specific model able to portray a city’s past in an inclusive.
George Bernard Shaw wrote “If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you’d best teach it to dance.”
Shady heritage has the potential to be reframed as an urban asset, providing social, as well as perhaps economic and environmental benefits and contributing to a sustainable and liveable city.
The design challenges will be numerous, pertaining to design legibility, stances on conservation, notions of individual and collective memory and issues of authenticity and gentrification.
Dancing Skeleton - Rasha (2006)
Architectural practice is inherently future facing; operating between present reality and imagined futures. This temporal aspect of architecture, coupled with the ethical obligation towards socially just practice, calls for a high degree of professional responsibility as we take on a substantial role in future shaping. As architects, we must consider what historiographies we build up on, to ensure a socially sustainable future.
Given the increasingly divided society we live in, it not only those whose stories have been repressed that have something to gain from this, but all of us. The news this past month in France, and this past week in the USA, highlights the treat social polarisation and cancel culture pose to Western democracies. While we remain in our echo chambers on social media, part of the solution may lie in creating some physical common ground. I mentioned earlier that our bodies internalise trauma. So do our cities. Until we are able to come to terms with the underlying shadiness, we will remain unable to remedy to its lingering (negative) impacts.
Content by Saskia Tideman