Changing Places #2: change and the material fate of place, SHU Space & Place Group session 27-4-22
Channel: Sheffield Hallam University Space & Place Group
Date: 2022-04-28

Change of place - whether as regeneration, ruination, redevelopment or altered forms of use – is a materialised expression of a complex amalgam of social/cultural, economic and political factors playing themselves out across a variety of scales. 

But rather than looking outward to frame instances of change of place within wider structural processes, this instalment of the Sheffield Hallam University's Space & Place Group's 'Changing Places' series asks how the material manifestations of that localised change can be foregrounded, in order to restore the local connection/disconnection that is often lost via analysis that is more concerned with the wider - and more abstract - narratives and interpretations of change.

Our three presenters, from graphic communication, museum studies and film making share a  common concern with the role of place in the forming and evolving of individual's and communities' relationships with buildings and places. In discussion, we drew out the similarities and differences of their approaches and concerns on the question of how the instinct to preserve, protect and extol the virtues of 'the local' and the familiar arise in and about our built environments. 

Our presenters for this event were: 

Joanne Lee (Art & Design, SHU) & Rosemary Shirley (University of Leicester, School of Museum Studies)

Staying Local

The idea of the local is often connected with disparaging terms like: insular, small-minded, provincial and parochial. In our fast moving, virtually orientated and highly interconnected world it is the global rather than the local which commands attention. This project aims to challenge some of this habitual thinking and find ways (as Robert MacFarlane wrote in his introductory essay to Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain) for the local to act ‘not as a perimeter but as an aperture: a space through which the world can be seen’. We’re particularly interested in the potential of creative methodologies to help open this aperture and create new understandings for the potential of thinking, dwelling and acting locally. This presentation will outline our current investigations, including the five strands of ‘localness’ that we have identified and plan to explore further. These are: Reorientations towards the local prompted by lockdown, the local in relation to nationalism and Brexit, the dispersed and non-proximal local afforded by digital engagements, expanded concepts of local communities beyond the human, and the local as a counter narrative to growth. We are presenting our work in progress upon which we welcome the diverse perspectives of the SHU Space and Place Group.

Esther Johnson (Media, SHU)

SHIPS in the SKY: civic place and memory-making

'SHIPS in the SKY' is a social history arts project recording the many lives of the majestic Hull & East Riding Co-operative Society store (later a BHS) in Hull City Centre. The building has had many lives – a department store, an indoor market, a dance hall, a music venue and nightclub. The project also looks at the trio of murals in the building by Alan Boyson, including the 1963 'Three Ships’ adorning the store entrance, reputed to be the largest mosaic in the UK. The mural was grade II listed in Nov 2019 after a long campaign. Demolition of the surrounding building commences in spring 2022.

Through the lens of one building, the research emphasises how buildings and associated public art can be crucial for civic place and memory-making, and geographical and historical local identity. Research themes include the effects of public art on peoples’ navigation and memories of the public realm; cooperatism; retail; labour; club-culture; postwar regeneration and local identity. For instance, the 'Three Ships’ mural has an explicit connection to Hull’s fishing and maritime heritage.

Approximately 100 oral history recordings from many perspectives have been completed to date — from store shoppers and employees, to construction workers, and recollections of gigs in the buildings ‘Skyline Ballroom’, later ‘Bailey’s’ nightclub and then ‘Romeo’s & Juliet’s’. Community engagement workshops and exhibitions in Hull libraries, plus publications and presentations have also taken place as part of the project. The research will culminate in a a series of public events, workshops, and a large-scale exhibition including a multi-screen artist moving-image work, donated ephemera connected to the building, and art inspired by the Boyson’s murals. https://linktr.ee/ShipsInTheSky.

See detailed project elements here: https://shipsinthesky.weebly.com/