#heritage lottery fund
‘Men Marched Asleep’ (2018)
Williamson Museum and Art Gallery, Merseyside, CH43 4UE
Nov - Dec 2018
Heritage Lottery Funded
The title of the installation takes its inspiration from the fifth line of the Wilfred Owen poem: Dulce et Decorum Est
…a poem which provides a deeply evocative description of men exhausted by battle but continuing on. It’s a journey-narrative saturated by time-and-toil, regimental history and personal loss during the Great War. This sense of movement is conveyed in parallel by the installation itself as a series of historical objects, personal photographs and artworks created by the local community transport the visitor through an immersive and evocative environment peppered with lines taken from the poetry of Owen alongside a life-size trench.
Serving & former soldiers contributed to a workshop programme alongside members of The Spider Project, a creative arts and well-being recovery community programme.
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THE LISTENING STATION (2018)
The Wilson, Cheltenham
1st September - 16th December 2018
Steeped in history yet rooted within the present day, The Listening Station embodies a series of responses to World War One. From archive-based material held within The Wilson to contemporary headlines and current affairs the installation considers conflict in its broadest form.
A shrine to War-and-Peace can be found at the centre of the work, surrounded by flowers, flags and protest placards. Quotes from conversations sit side-by-side with inter-generational drawings, song lyrics are placed next to slogans. A series of banners contain historical artworks which mirror, reflect and repeat, like history, they reveal poignant, political and powerful perspectives.
Through workshops, discussion groups and drop-in sessions lead artist Robyn Woolston engaged with Lives of Colour, the African Community Foundation, Cheltenham Borough Homes, Holst Birthplace Museum, P3, Oakley Community Resource Centre, Hesters Way Neighbourhood Project, Cornerstone Centre and ‘Change, Grow, Live’ as well as library, hospital and leisure centre users.
You can find out more about the projects research journey here:
www.thelisteningstationcheltenham.tumblr.com
Project partners & key funders:
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‘Coming Home’ Mobile Museum visits National Trust Scotland Culloden as part of the ‘Don’t Mention the War; How We Talk About Conflict in Museums’ conference.
Keynote: Dr Jenny Kidd (University of Cardiff) / https://jennykidd.org
More about the ‘Coming Home’ project:
“Coming Home” is a travelling exhibition and events programme developed by High Life Highland (HLH) to commemorate the end of the First World War in the Highlands. Poignant individual experiences, explored through the documents, objects and photographs held in High Life Highland museums and archives and partner independent museums, are placed at the heart of the project. These individual narratives reflect the wider social and economic changes in the Highlands at the time.
Lead Artist / Robyn Woolston http://robynwoolston.com
Lead Fabricator (Mobile Museum) / Tony Harris http://gtprojects.wixsite.com/home
More about Culloden:
https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/culloden
On 16 April 1746, the final Jacobite Rising came to a brutal head in one of the most harrowing battles in British history.
Jacobite supporters, seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, gathered to fight the Duke of Cumberland’s government troops. It was the last pitched battle on British soil and, in less than an hour, around 1,500 men were slain – more than 1,000 of them Jacobites.
Culloden Battlefield, Culloden Moor, IV2 5EU
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‘Coming Home’ Lead Artist / Mobile Museum Design & Build
‘COMING HOME is a travelling exhibition and events programme developed by High Life Highland (HLH) to commemorate the end of the First World War in the Highlands. At the heart of the project are poignant individual experiences explored through the documents, objects and photographs held in High Life Highland museums and archives and partner independent museums. These individual stories reflect the wider social and economic changes in the Highlands at the time.’
Artist Brief:
- To engage in 3 Artist-in-Residence days at the Highland Folk Museum (HFM)
- To deliver 4 full-day workshops that engaged with the visitors to the HFM alongside members of Caberfeidh Horizons in Kingussie
- To design and produce a 3-dimensional Mobile Museum inspired by the ideas presented within the workshops that would house replica objects and high quality copies, e.g. photographs, letters, postcards, medals
- The museum needed be fully interactive in a variety of media including sound alongside being designed to be sympathetic to the overall design of the touring exhibition
- Finally, the design needed to be robust and able to withstand heavy unsupervised use from all ages of exhibition visitor
Workshop outcomes:
- 415 people attended the workshops at the HFM from as far afield as Slovakia, Germany, Australia and America.
Project blog: https://cominghomeww1.tumblr.com
Co-fabricator and designer:
Tony Harris / Exhibition Fabricator
W: http://gtprojects.wixsite.com/home & linkedin.com/in/tonyharrisgt
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