‘The Present Superimposed on the Past or the Past Indwelling in the Present: Explorations of Cultural Memory Mediated through Curated and Creative Forms’
This PhD research explores how cultural memory is mediated through place identity and images of place. It will additionally examine the wide range of curated and creative forms, strategies and other means that are employed as vehicles for cultural memory, and how these are used to inform, educate and generally communicate with the public. The research will focus on the town of Whitehaven in Cumberland and explore the many facets of cultural memory that have become important in how the town portrays its relationship to the past. It will do this through the use of interviews, archival materials, the analysis of heritage initiatives, and original research-led curatorial initiatives to explore and make public the value of local forms of cultural expression. The unique contemporary political, cultural, and economical situation in Whitehaven provides an opportunity to uncover broader insights into the relationship between past and present, including the extent to which Whitehaven’s history influences its contemporary character and identity. Recent events in Whitehaven, such as the failed plans to open a new coal mine and the attempt to preserve aspects of its mining past in the now closed Haigh Mining Museum show that Whitehaven is a place that is defined in the present, not only by the past, but by how the past is always shaped for present purposes.
Whitehaven additionally provides an excellent case study for understanding how important the arts are to cultural memory: it contains an abundance of placemaking public art centred around its harbour, which is part of a wider ‘heritage landscape’, and one of its only exhibition spaces, The Rum Story, is currently undergoing a ‘reimagining’ project. Both provide an op-portunity to explore how the relationship between past and present is mediated through curated cultural and artistic practices that, for instance, constitute an important aspect of the town’s portrayal of its history and heritage. At this early stage in the research, three case studies that focus on distinctive place- and heritage-related initiatives have been identified:
• The ‘Renaissance of Whitehaven’ (millennium project)
• The West Cumbrian Carnivals exhibition
• The Rum Story Reimagined initiative
The project is underpinned by two principal assumptions that allow the research to be related to bigger questions: (i) that the past and present co-exist in personal, collective, and cultural forms and (ii) that place is key factor in mediating cultural memory. Cultural memory studies constitute an expanding multidisciplinary field within contemporary academia that brings together research in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and their sub-fields.
Conceptual and theoretical insights from this broad field can inform how we understand cul-tural memory as a phenomenon of contemporary society. In that respect, this PhD project will contribute to the wider debates that seek to understand contemporary life.