‘Where were we now?’ Ficto-heritage: a new approach to in-situ displays of historical photography

In-situ photographic displays are a recent form of heritage production that superimposes historic images onto the site of their origination. These photographic displays have been made possible by the accumulation of old images of place available to be displayed against and contrasted with present views. This form of heritage practice is driven by new museological approaches that aim to reach audiences outside the museum. In addition, it is a practice used by commercial organisations to commodify, brand and market locations.

Such displays are increasingly common. They appear to be an innocent record of the past. They seem unauthored and definitive. However, it is argued that these displays require a more thorough interrogation. Therefore, this investigation takes Chantal Mouffe’s discussion of consensus and dissensus, to investigate how debate might be encouraged or discouraged in the minds of audiences viewing the displays; and the writing of Henri Lefebvre, to explore ways in which in-situ photographic displays produce and maintain spatial and social relations. A number of case studies are explored using these theories to seek to establish what current in-situ photographic heritage practices ‘do’; how they are consumed; the way they make people feel about the present; and how they shape attitudes to the future. Based on the literature review and the case study analysis, this thesis argues that such displays are neither neutral nor innocent. Instead, they sustain or reinforce dominant narratives about the present while repressing other possible interpretations.

As a practice-based study, the investigation goes on to explore how in-situ photographic displays may, alternatively, become a creative tool for contesting and re-imagining the present and the future. A methodological approach is developed. Elements are taken from Michel Foucault’s analysis of power relations, which determine absence and presence in the archive; Michel de Certeau’s discussion of the narrative construction of the historical record; the varied approaches taken by microhistorians to document the everyday; and the work of artists who have explored the quotidian, who are concerned with absence in the archive and who employ fictional approaches to the production of the past in the present. This critical review leads to the formulation of an axiomatic framework for new experimental heritage practice that seeks to prompt an inquiring response among audiences by unsettling the self-affirming qualities of current heritage practice.

Drawing on de Certeau’s historiographic arguments the study responds to the axiomatic framework by developing a practical experimental approach called fictoheritage. The term describes a creative heritage practice which incorporates an interest in the vernacular; draws attention to absence in the archive; and adopts fictional approaches in order to prompt critical reflection among audiences.

The framework and the ficto-heritage approach are evaluated by developing an insitu photographic proposal using the test case of the Kugelhaus, a spherical building called ficto-heritage. The term describes a creative heritage practice which incorporates an interest in the vernacular; draws attention to absence in the archive; and adopts fictional approaches in order to prompt critical reflection among audiences.