THE HEAR & NOW
Remembering
Fictional Inspiration |
Artefact 5.1 Right | The Memory Police front cover (Ogawa, 2022)
Blurb |
“To the people on the island, a disappeared thing no longer has any meaning. It can be burned in the garden or handed over to the Memory Police. Soon enough, the island forgets it ever existed.
When a young novelist discovers her editor is in danger of being taken away by the Memory Police, she wants to save him.
For some reason he doesn’t forget and its becoming difficult for him to hide his memories. Who knows what will vanish next?”
The Importance of Memory |
Artefact 5.2 Below | Thought provoking extracts from The Memory Police (Ogawa, 2020)
​
Memories evoke emotion and allow transportation to a moment in the past. However, they can be corrupted by time if they aren't cherished and preserved. The Memory Police debates the power and value in remembering.
Memory the Museum of the Mind |
Artefact 5.3 Right | Memories of my Grandmother
​
Memories are special but can be temperamental. Without guidance, time can warp your interpretation of a moment. Thoughts can be tinkered with to suit your personal preference. Your mind can replay the truth but will often form fictional adaptations of scenarios.
​
A current personal circumstance has caused debate regarding memory and preservation in both my home and work life. My Grandmother, who I lived with for 18 years, is passing away. I find myself regularly distracted by questions.
​
+ How do I want to remember her?
+ Living with her, did I remember to record enough moments to keep my memory strong?
+ She is frail, when I visit her next she will have deteriorated further, do I want this uncomfortable memory to be the freshest I have?
​
Life is a balancing act between living in the moment and learning from the past. Artefacts such as photographs, videos and objects allow us to appreciate the present without worrying about forgetting. Comfort is gifted by the fact that with the aid of a trigger your memory can transport you back to a moment.
Comfort - devisable by memory is a universal right which architecture should foster.
Evolution of Museums
What Do Museums Actually Do? |
Artefact 5.4 right | Museums word cloud
MUSEUM DEFINITION
'A building where objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored & exhibited.
A public & non-commercial institution curating an exhibition program for cultural & educational purposes'
(ICOM, 2022)
Museums Adapt to the World Around Them |
Artefact 5.5 Below | Historic timeline of museum evolution (Marotta, 2012)
Preservation in Egypt
Stuck in the Past? |
Artefact 5.6 Right | Collage - Museums for the Elite
​
Egypt still promotes the ideology of 19th century Palace Museums. 'Culture and power merged to convey the idea of an idyllic past.' Contents show a different world to the one we grew up in. This would be fine if it were a just reflection of history however, the everyday was lost, deemed less important, regardless of cultural merit. On reflection ‘The Egyptian Museum’ and 'Museum of Islamic Art' primarily exhibit un-relatable figures celebrating decoration which would only have been found in palaces.
Representation - A Global Issue |
Artefact 5.7 Below | Ian Hislop on The British Museum (Hislop, 2018)
Cairo's Oppressive Institutions |
Artefact 5.8 Below | Plot of libraries & museums
​
Museums embody cultural systems. In Egypt they have also become a symbol of oppression. The titles of Cairo's museums reflect their failure to evolve with society and the past 5 decades of presidential regimes seeking to control history.
'The politicised atrophy of Egypt’s cultural riches under Mubarak was epitomized on 9 March 2011, when young protesters were dragged from Tahrir Square into the adjacent Egyptian Museum. There, amid the badly kept and dusty remnants of their nation’s ancient past, they were brutalised for attempting to rewrite its future.'
'A $500 million replacement Grand Egyptian Museum far out in the desert is near completion: By extracting the nation’s main cultural institution from its capital and population... Egypt’s post-Mubarak rulers are perhaps hoping that in the years to come their battle against history will be victorious, and the state can reaffirm its authority over the past.'
'The Egyptians'
(Shenker, 2017, p.120)
Museums Caught Up In Politics |
Artefact 5.9 Below | Mapping of 2011 riot location
Museums are educational tools. They encourage reflection on what's happening in the world today and help people think about how they want to live.
​
Censorship of representation is not a productive message for future generations.
What Makes a Successful Museum?
Connection to the Surroundings |
Artefact 5.11 Right | Diagram - Views of surroundings framed at multiple levels
Focused views turn the surroundings into an artefact for observation. A 34m tower provides a range of perspectives to view the context from, evoking thought and engagement.
Contextual Awareness
Matsunoyama Museum of Natural Science |
Artefact 5.10 Left | Images of Matsunoyama (Tezuka, 2005)
Location & Date | Niigata Japan, 2003
Architect | Tezuka Architects
Area | 1250 sqm
Construction | Steel - 6mm Corten Clad
​
Description | An example of 'Museum Landscape' creates a place to experience a range of natural phenomena. The form celebrates a relationship between landscape and visitors.
Matsunoyama Adjacencies & Zoning |
Artefact 5.12 Below | Plan and areas of Matsunoya (Tezuka, 2005)
Gallery | 32%
Auditorium | 19%
Circulation | 18%
Staff / Research | 13%
Catering / Events | 10%
Services | 8%
New Acropolis Museum |
Artefact 5.13 Below | Images of New Acropolis Museum (Tschumi, 2010)
​
Location & Date | Athens Greece, 2009
Architect | Bernard Tschumi Architects
Area | 21,000 sqm
Construction | Reinforced concrete, marble & glass. Durable to resist the passage of time and protect the site
​
Description | Naturally lit galleries exhibit findings from the Acropolis. A curated narrative states an emotive case to visitors that the Elgin marbles should be returned. As an example of 'Content vs Container' the architecture is non monumental so as not to detract from the artefacts and context.
New Acropolis Adjacencies & Zoning |
Artefact 5.14 Right | Plan & areas of The New Acropolis Museum (Tschumi, 2010)
3rd F |
2nd F |
1st F |
GF |
Gallery | 68%
Circulation | 13%
Services | 6%
Catering / Events | 5%
Staff / Research | 4.5%
Auditorium | 3.5%
A Curated Route |
Artefact 5.15 Above | Diagrams of the New Acropolis Museum concepts (Tschumi, 2010)
​
Visitors follow a sequence through time and spatiality that rises in historical chronological order. The museum reflects a manifestation of the Parthenon externally and internally.
An enriched yet simple journey
Jewish Museum |
Artefact 5.16 Left | Images of the Jewish Museum Berlin (Pavka, 2010)
​
Location & Date | Berlin, 1999
Architect | Studio Libeskind
Area | 15,500 sqm
Construction | Reinforced concrete with zinc clad cold formed in place, soldered on site.
​
Description | The museum embeds Jewish presence culturally and socially in Berlin. ​Narrative and emotion create an experience which helps visitors understand the effects of the Holocaust on the Jewish culture.
Libeskind secured an identity within Berlin, which was lost during WWII (Pavka, 2010).
Atmosphere Highlights
an Underlying Agenda
Jewish Museum Narrative Zoning |
Artefact 5.17 Right | Jewish Museum plan & zoning (Pavka, 2010)
​
Feelings of absence, emptiness, and invisibility – expressions of disappearance of the Jewish Culture are generated by the architecture. Human experience is translated into composition.
Tower of Holocaust
Garden of Exile
Axis of Continuity
Atmosphere & Emotion |
Artefact 5.17 Left | Diagram - Architecture which emotes emotion icons
The complex interior of galleries and dead ends juxtaposes the exterior. A concrete void running through the entire building creates a powerful space full of symbolising for those lost.
As a 'Museum City' the building is more than a space for exhibits it is an experience depicting what most cannot comprehend.