'Inhabiting Space' is a collaborative project by Sheffield-based researchers working in a range of academic disciplines. Each of the contributors is concerned, in their research, with questions about how people in different cultural and geographical contexts inhabit space; in particular, how do they make themselves at home in spaces that are anonymous, standard, built by or for someone else?
Working in a range of academic disciplines, our aim in creating the exhibition was to bring new insights to our research through a dialogue both with each other but also with wider audiences beyond the university. By visualizing our research in the exhibition, we invited viewers to immerse themselves in the exhibits and to think about how they and others inhabit and make sense of domestic space.
For more information please visit our blog: inhabitingspace.blogspot.com
'Inhabiting Space', Jessop West Exhibition Space, University of Sheffield, 30 May - 11 June 2011
Website design & build by Human
Authors
Susan E. Reid
Making Oneself at Home in 1960s Soviet Flats
The exhibition presents a selection of photographs, texts and sound recordings from my research project on Everyday Aesthetics in the Modern Soviet Flat which concerns homemaking in state housing in a number of cities of the former Soviet Union, including St Petersburg, Kaluga, Apatity, Samara and Kazan.
The project is about people who moved into new flats around 1960. The Soviet state at that time attempted to solve an acute housing shortage by building millions of small, standard, prefabricated flats. The research (funded by the Leverhulme Trust and AHRC, 2004-09), looks at how these Soviet citizens furnished and decorated their apartments and made this standard space into a personally meaningful place, home. Did they try to make their home different from others and if so, how? What notions of beauty, taste and propriety guided their choices. In spite of their standard plans and plain architecture did their domestic interiors become expressions of their sense of their individual and family identity? What did the things they chose to keep around them mean to them and what can they tell us about the ways broader social, cultural and economic changes in Soviet life in the last decades of the Soviet Union were experienced by ordinary people?
The exhibition presents a selection of photographs, texts and sound recordings from my research project on Everyday Aesthetics in the Modern Soviet Flat which concerns homemaking in state housing in a number of cities of the former Soviet Union, including St Petersburg, Kaluga, Apatity, Samara and Kazan.
The project is about people who moved into new flats around 1960. The Soviet state at that time attempted to solve an acute housing shortage by building millions of small, standard, prefabricated flats. The research (funded by the Leverhulme Trust and AHRC, 2004-09), looks at how these Soviet citizens furnished and decorated their apartments and made this standard space into a personally meaningful place, home. Did they try to make their home different from others and if so, how? What notions of beauty, taste and propriety guided their choices. In spite of their standard plans and plain architecture did their domestic interiors become expressions of their sense of their individual and family identity? What did the things they chose to keep around them mean to them and what can they tell us about the ways broader social, cultural and economic changes in Soviet life in the last decades of the Soviet Union were experienced by ordinary people?
Prue Chiles
Returning home
What happens when architects go back to see the result of their work for the people inhabiting their houses? How well have the houses lived up to the promise; what do the clients remember of the process of building and the decisions made. This project reveals the complex relationships between clients, builders and architects and explores how successful the process has been. What do people think of their homes now and what regrets do they have? What marks have been left by the process and what lessons have been learned by all parties involved?
This self-critical and on-going research looks at three projects built between 2003 and 2007 built by the author and her architectural practice. By interviewing the clients lost memories of struggles and triumphs are re-lived. Insights into relationships built, communication hiccups and unexpected hurdles are recorded.
In attempting to create spaces for the clients to thrive, have the architects constrained and compromised their clients' ability to perform tasks and to live comfortably or have they been liberated. Finally, how have the homes themselves changed.
What happens when architects go back to see the result of their work for the people inhabiting their houses? How well have the houses lived up to the promise; what do the clients remember of the process of building and the decisions made. This project reveals the complex relationships between clients, builders and architects and explores how successful the process has been. What do people think of their homes now and what regrets do they have? What marks have been left by the process and what lessons have been learned by all parties involved?
This self-critical and on-going research looks at three projects built between 2003 and 2007 built by the author and her architectural practice. By interviewing the clients lost memories of struggles and triumphs are re-lived. Insights into relationships built, communication hiccups and unexpected hurdles are recorded.
In attempting to create spaces for the clients to thrive, have the architects constrained and compromised their clients' ability to perform tasks and to live comfortably or have they been liberated. Finally, how have the homes themselves changed.
Kate Pahl & Richard Steadman-Jones
Writing Materials
When we see someone writing, we often focus on the content of the text. We wonder what it says: 'Oh, "I love you" - that's nice!' But it can also be important to look at where the text is written and the materials used to write it. To scrawl 'I love you' in biro on a postcard is different from tattooing your undying devotion in enormous letters across your back.
We are interested in the materiality of writing, both the surfaces on which text appears (stone, skin, fabric, tiles, the dirt on the back of a van, the condensation on the inside of a window) and also in the instruments used to make it (a pen, a needle, a chisel, a finger, a penknife).
In the home, writing is often layered and ephemeral. It may also be secret. This exhibition includes examples of home writing by children and young people: names written in glitter on pieces of A4 paper, secret diaries, bus tickets, cut-out cartoons, scrap books, and writing embroidered or woven onto craft materials. The makers of this writing are helping to co-curate the exhibit and bring their writing practices into the more public space of the exhibition.
There are also examples of writing from the street where signs and notices present an official account of place and more spontaneous writing brings a personal perspective to the space. Poems cut into stone memorials and pencil marks on billboards - look inside our chest of drawers and think about the writing on the wall.
When we see someone writing, we often focus on the content of the text. We wonder what it says: 'Oh, "I love you" - that's nice!' But it can also be important to look at where the text is written and the materials used to write it. To scrawl 'I love you' in biro on a postcard is different from tattooing your undying devotion in enormous letters across your back.
We are interested in the materiality of writing, both the surfaces on which text appears (stone, skin, fabric, tiles, the dirt on the back of a van, the condensation on the inside of a window) and also in the instruments used to make it (a pen, a needle, a chisel, a finger, a penknife).
In the home, writing is often layered and ephemeral. It may also be secret. This exhibition includes examples of home writing by children and young people: names written in glitter on pieces of A4 paper, secret diaries, bus tickets, cut-out cartoons, scrap books, and writing embroidered or woven onto craft materials. The makers of this writing are helping to co-curate the exhibit and bring their writing practices into the more public space of the exhibition.
There are also examples of writing from the street where signs and notices present an official account of place and more spontaneous writing brings a personal perspective to the space. Poems cut into stone memorials and pencil marks on billboards - look inside our chest of drawers and think about the writing on the wall.
Carolyn Butterworth
Words on the Streets
I am currently researching the conditions in which people feel empowered or provoked into transforming their communal environment. I am especially interested in exploring this in sites that are in transition, moving from one state to another. Over the last few years I have been working with my architecture design students in areas of Housing Market Renewal (HMR) where whole communities across the North of England underwent immense change as thousands of homes were cleared, demolished and rebuilt on a scale not seen since the slum clearances of the 1960's.
The HMR programme has now been halted by the new coalition government leaving many neighbourhoods scarred with streets of empty, boarded up homes that were due for demolition and thousands of people dealing with a very different future than they expected, for their neighbourhood, their neighbours and themselves. Sometimes the ensuing confusion, anger and distress has been externalised upon the derelict homes themselves. The work I will be showing in the exhibition will illustrate how local residents and the organisations managing their neighbourhoods have used the elevations of the empty houses as bulletin boards and canvases for slogans of resistance, stories and cries for help.
I am currently researching the conditions in which people feel empowered or provoked into transforming their communal environment. I am especially interested in exploring this in sites that are in transition, moving from one state to another. Over the last few years I have been working with my architecture design students in areas of Housing Market Renewal (HMR) where whole communities across the North of England underwent immense change as thousands of homes were cleared, demolished and rebuilt on a scale not seen since the slum clearances of the 1960's.
The HMR programme has now been halted by the new coalition government leaving many neighbourhoods scarred with streets of empty, boarded up homes that were due for demolition and thousands of people dealing with a very different future than they expected, for their neighbourhood, their neighbours and themselves. Sometimes the ensuing confusion, anger and distress has been externalised upon the derelict homes themselves. The work I will be showing in the exhibition will illustrate how local residents and the organisations managing their neighbourhoods have used the elevations of the empty houses as bulletin boards and canvases for slogans of resistance, stories and cries for help.
Simone Abram
Going to the Cabin: Performing nature and being Norwegian
Nearly half the Norwegian population has access to a holiday home, and many of these are wooden cabins in the mountains. 'Going to the cabin' includes travelling, moving and being there: the cabin is a base for hiking, skiing, (occasionally hunting and) gathering, and it is a place to be at home with family. Cabins rose in popularity after WWII, as simple cosy shelters for being at home in nature, being self-sufficient, and enjoying peace and quiet. An 'ideal' cabin lies quietly in the landscape, out of sight of another, and far from any road. More recent modern cabins have become more like houses, with electricity and plumbing, perhaps close to a downhill ski-centre, and possibly an apartment rather than a house and may even have a remote controlled heated driveway and garage so it can be ready for a weekend visit.
The cabin shown here could be called a classic. Designed in the 1960s, it is based on a traditional farm design from Hallingdal in southern Norway, transformed by functional and elegant architecture, with an emphasis on fitting into the landscape. It is particularly popular with people with higher education, academics, teachers, etc, for its lack of ostentation, good design and minimal environmental impact. The reading corner, with its 'hems' or sleeping ledge above, is an archetypal space to curl up with a good book, sit by the fire, enjoy the view, or relax and chat after a long day's hike or ski in the mountains. It's an ideal place for 'familikos', or what we might call quality time, doing nothing, chatting or playing games, and enjoying being with one another.
For the exhibition, we will construct a 'reading corner' to Aalhytte's design. Visitors will be invited to lounge in the corner, browse contemporary Norwegian books (courtesy of the Norwegian Embassy), enjoy the 'views' and contribute to a 'cabin book'.
Nearly half the Norwegian population has access to a holiday home, and many of these are wooden cabins in the mountains. 'Going to the cabin' includes travelling, moving and being there: the cabin is a base for hiking, skiing, (occasionally hunting and) gathering, and it is a place to be at home with family. Cabins rose in popularity after WWII, as simple cosy shelters for being at home in nature, being self-sufficient, and enjoying peace and quiet. An 'ideal' cabin lies quietly in the landscape, out of sight of another, and far from any road. More recent modern cabins have become more like houses, with electricity and plumbing, perhaps close to a downhill ski-centre, and possibly an apartment rather than a house and may even have a remote controlled heated driveway and garage so it can be ready for a weekend visit.
The cabin shown here could be called a classic. Designed in the 1960s, it is based on a traditional farm design from Hallingdal in southern Norway, transformed by functional and elegant architecture, with an emphasis on fitting into the landscape. It is particularly popular with people with higher education, academics, teachers, etc, for its lack of ostentation, good design and minimal environmental impact. The reading corner, with its 'hems' or sleeping ledge above, is an archetypal space to curl up with a good book, sit by the fire, enjoy the view, or relax and chat after a long day's hike or ski in the mountains. It's an ideal place for 'familikos', or what we might call quality time, doing nothing, chatting or playing games, and enjoying being with one another.
For the exhibition, we will construct a 'reading corner' to Aalhytte's design. Visitors will be invited to lounge in the corner, browse contemporary Norwegian books (courtesy of the Norwegian Embassy), enjoy the 'views' and contribute to a 'cabin book'.
Daniela Petrelli
The Family Memory Radio
Current digital technology is not designed for domestic use. The computer has been designed for efficiency and single use in the office, but in the home serendipity and multiplicity are the norms. At home we do not have time pressure and we want to share with others. In addition, files in the computer require management, but people do not welcome extra (boring) chores. My research explores the design of innovative digital technology for domestic spaces. I want people to engage with their own digital content but in a different setting than in front of a computer screen.
The Family Memory Radio, a device to listen back to self-recorded sound mementos, is an example of such exploration.
An old Roberts radio from the 70s has been repurposed to embed digital technology and support an easy access to personal digital mementos. By exploiting the opacity of sound, the interaction with digital content becomes engaging and playful.
Current digital technology is not designed for domestic use. The computer has been designed for efficiency and single use in the office, but in the home serendipity and multiplicity are the norms. At home we do not have time pressure and we want to share with others. In addition, files in the computer require management, but people do not welcome extra (boring) chores. My research explores the design of innovative digital technology for domestic spaces. I want people to engage with their own digital content but in a different setting than in front of a computer screen.
The Family Memory Radio, a device to listen back to self-recorded sound mementos, is an example of such exploration.
An old Roberts radio from the 70s has been repurposed to embed digital technology and support an easy access to personal digital mementos. By exploiting the opacity of sound, the interaction with digital content becomes engaging and playful.
Karen Harvey & students
Living with Sheffield Jungle
For most of 1910 to 1911 Frank Bostock's large, permanent menagerie took over the old roller-rink building on Hawley Street. The Sheffield Jungle, as it was known, incorporated lion taming, exotic animal shows, human feats, and exhibitions of curiosities. Whilst evidence reveals extensive details on the events and spectacles of the Jungle, virtually nothing is recorded about the domestic living spaces of the hundreds of people that worked there. Based on research and primary material held by the National Fairground Archive, this exhibition seeks to examine this gap in the historical record.
Consultation with the National Fairground Archive staff Ian Trowell and Angela Greenwood revealed several possible domestic arrangements, three of which have been selected for exploration. Maps show that there would have been space to accommodate a large number of domiciliary wagons, and there is substantial evidence that such wagons were used for the purposes of accommodation when the circus was in transit. The circus building itself is another option, as it would have been conveniently close to the animals and large enough to accommodate lots of people. A third option is the luxurious and recently opened Grand Hotel, which would certainly have suited Frank Bostock's celebrity status.
The exhibition explores the physical space from both a geographic and a domestic perspective, using images for illustration. At the same time it seeks to demonstrate how the processes of research and investigation can lead to historical conclusions, and encourages you to question the assumption of museum authority. An interactive display allows exploration of the research process, with virtual 'historians' guiding you through a number of different possibilities. As you are lead through the different historical options you are encouraged to draw your own conclusions about the key question posed by the exhibit; how did the Sheffield Jungle inhabit domestic space?
This display arises from 'Presenting the Past: Making History Public', a History MA module convened by Karen Harvey, Senior Lecturer in Cultural History.
Students: Emma Collins, Jose Cree, Sally Gawthorpe, Nicola Walker.
For most of 1910 to 1911 Frank Bostock's large, permanent menagerie took over the old roller-rink building on Hawley Street. The Sheffield Jungle, as it was known, incorporated lion taming, exotic animal shows, human feats, and exhibitions of curiosities. Whilst evidence reveals extensive details on the events and spectacles of the Jungle, virtually nothing is recorded about the domestic living spaces of the hundreds of people that worked there. Based on research and primary material held by the National Fairground Archive, this exhibition seeks to examine this gap in the historical record.
Consultation with the National Fairground Archive staff Ian Trowell and Angela Greenwood revealed several possible domestic arrangements, three of which have been selected for exploration. Maps show that there would have been space to accommodate a large number of domiciliary wagons, and there is substantial evidence that such wagons were used for the purposes of accommodation when the circus was in transit. The circus building itself is another option, as it would have been conveniently close to the animals and large enough to accommodate lots of people. A third option is the luxurious and recently opened Grand Hotel, which would certainly have suited Frank Bostock's celebrity status.
The exhibition explores the physical space from both a geographic and a domestic perspective, using images for illustration. At the same time it seeks to demonstrate how the processes of research and investigation can lead to historical conclusions, and encourages you to question the assumption of museum authority. An interactive display allows exploration of the research process, with virtual 'historians' guiding you through a number of different possibilities. As you are lead through the different historical options you are encouraged to draw your own conclusions about the key question posed by the exhibit; how did the Sheffield Jungle inhabit domestic space?
This display arises from 'Presenting the Past: Making History Public', a History MA module convened by Karen Harvey, Senior Lecturer in Cultural History.
Students: Emma Collins, Jose Cree, Sally Gawthorpe, Nicola Walker.