Healing Through Remembering

07/02/2011

HTR receives funding for ‘Everyday Objects Transformed By Conflict’ project

In December 2010, HTR received $10,000 in funding from US-based International Coalition for Sites of Conscience (SOC) towards the overall cost of a new project called “Everyday Objects Transformed By Conflict”.  HTR also received £500 from Bombardier Aerospace (NI) Foundation and £1,000 from the Good Relations Unit for costs related to the same project. 

The “Everyday Objects Transformed By Conflict” project is initiated by the Living Memorial Museum (LMM) Sub Group and it builds on a five day study visit made to Berlin in March 2010 by members of the LMM Sub Group, which was also funded by the SOC. 

The project aims to pilot a way of staging multiple-perspective events and exhibitions which can assist communities in building better understanding of the conflict and the past.  It also seeks, through educational and interactive exhibits designed by communities themselves, to build an understanding of different cultures and communities.
The project has its origins in HTR’s 2008 ‘Audit of Artefacts’ report, an audit of the material culture of the conflict in and about Northern Ireland, and includes a wide range of artefacts, collections (from small private collectors to large public museums), and community backgrounds.  Also available at HTR’s website is an online database of artefacts which was made available the result of the audit.
Participating collections in the exhibition will be invited to lend one item from their collection to the pilot exhibition. The contributing collectors will include the curators of small, community-based collections as well as curators from other larger and more public collections. Working with the Living Memorial Museum (LMM) Sub Group, will identify the process by which it will be possible to stage a shared exhibition on everyday objects transformed by conflict.  It is hoped that the exhibition will launch in Autumn 2011.

Within this project, HTR seeks to support organised visits to the exhibition as well as workshops for schools, colleges, community groups and other interested parties, providing background information and topics for consideration for those who attend.  Further displays and events planned around “Everyday Objects Transformed By Conflict” are planned for the period after the initial exhibition and into 2012.

10/12/2010

Do Historians Help or Hinder: Seminar by Dr Ian McBride

The first of what it is hoped will be a series of seminars on topics linked to the Decade of Commemorations, was held on November 26th at HTR. Entitled “Do Historians Help or Hinder?”, the speaker was Dr Ian McBride from the Department of History at King’s College, London. Dr McBride explained that historians were increasingly in demand from all areas of the media to explain historical events. Although they are good at explaining events and putting them into context he said, historians are not good healers because they disagree about almost everything.

He explained that there is no set historical narrative, because it is hard to step outside the community or the time we live in. Interpretations change through time, one of the examples he gave was changing views on Sir Roger Casement and his Black Diaries. Ian explained that because historians today need to publish internationally, this can help to revise the dominant narrative. Historians help us to understand the past.

The initial responses to Ian’s talk were given by Dr Laurence McKeown, an writer and playwright and former republican prisoner and Karen McCartney from the Ulster People’s College. Karen delivers the People’s History Initiative. When the discussion was opened up to the floor there was a lively debate on various topics, including the history of the ordinary man, how history is taught in schools and the difficulties and discomfort we have in dealing with very recent history.   

23/11/2010

HTR launching Conversational Workshops on Dealing with the Past

Healing Through Remembering is launching Conversational Workshops on Dealing with the Past, an outreach programme offering in-depth opportunities for considering wide-ranging issues around dealing with the past.

The project will be launched at four venues during week beginning November 30th.

Please click here for full details.

Each event will begin with tea and coffee and will be followed by a buffet lunch.

The event will provide an opportunity to meet with the Healing Through Remembering delivery partners and those that have already taken part in workshops.

To confirm attendance please contact Claire Smith at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or by calling 02890238844.

10/11/2010

LMM Sub Group tours Belfast City Cemetery

In October the Living Memorial Museum Sub Group toured Belfast City Cemetery, guided by historian Tom Hartley.  Tom gave a fascinating insight to the many Victorian graves, including the lives of the people buried there and the use of symbols and different carvings on the headstones.  The group was able to see the underground wall that runs nine feet deep, built to divide Catholic and Protestant graves. 

The personal stories highlighted the rich and diverse history of the city of Belfast and included people involved in the World Wars, industry, education, the arts, sport, people from the Jewish and Muslim communities, and people involved in the conflict.  There was a general consensus from the group that the tour had been very informative and interesting, prompting much discussion at the subsequent meeting.  Tom talked about the way in which visiting a cemetery can challenge prejudice and help people to come to terms with the complexities of their shared history. 

If you are interested in being a part of the next HTR tour of the City Cemetery, contact Claire Smith on 9023 8844 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

19/03/2010

Living Memorial Museum group visit Berlin

The Healing Through Remembering Living Memorial Museum Sub Group visited Berlin this March on a city-wide site visit tour to look at the capital’s museums and how the city commemorates its difficult past.
The group’s visit was hosted by the House of the Wannsee Conference memorial and Education Site. It was in this house in 1942 that Reinhard Heydrich, Head of the Reich Security Main Office, chaired a meeting of high-ranking civil servants to plan the implementation of the ‘final solution’.
There the Sub Group met people involved in commemoration and museums and had the opportunity to share their experiences of looking at museums and conflict.
They visited a variety of conflict related sites including the Berlin Wall Documentation Centre, the Chapel of Reconciliation, the Berlin Wall Memorial and the Centre for Witnesses to Contemporary History. They also took a walking tour of the Berlin Wall including the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, the Jewish Memorial, Topography of Terror, Hitler’s bunker, and the former Gestapo headquarters.
The trip ended with visits to the DDR Museum and the Stasi Prison. The purpose of the trip was to inform the work of the Sub Group when considering how best society can best commemorate and reflect on conflict through the use of museums.

07/01/2010

Living in and Reporting on Conflict

Healing Through Remembering will hold a seminar with Brian Rowan (author and former BBC security editor) at 10:00am on Thursday 21 January at 10:00.

Using exclusive archive material Brian Rowan will discuss his decades-long relationships with combatant groups, their means of communication with the media and how their words were reported.

The event will take place at the offices of Healing Through Remembering. Please RSVP to Claire Smith at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or telephone on + 44 (0)28 9023 8844.

23/11/2009

HTR launching Conversational Workshops on Dealing with the Past

Healing Through Remembering is launching Conversational Workshops on Dealing with the Past, an outreach programme offering in-depth opportunities for considering wide-ranging issues around dealing with the past.

The project will be launched at four venues during week beginning November 30th.

Please click here for full details.

Each event will begin with tea and coffee and will be followed by a buffet lunch.

The event will provide an opportunity to meet with the Healing Through Remembering delivery partners and those that have already taken part in workshops.

To confirm attendance please contact Claire Smith at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or by calling 02890238844.

25/03/2008

Conference: Should We Put History Behind Glass

Healing Through Remembering and the Institute of Irish Studies at Queens University Belfast held a Conference:

Should We Put History Behind Glass?

The debate about a Living Memorial Museum to the conflict in and about Northern Ireland

Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th April 2008

Elmwood Teaching and Learning Centre

Queens University Belfast

Issues and Themes

Timing

The issue of timing raises a number of questions, such as, when is the time right for a Living Memorial Museum? How do you know when the time is right? What are the possible effects if a project such as this is taken on to soon? Could it be damaging to the political climate? Perhaps lessons can be learnt from other examples, both local and international.

Inclusive or Exclusive collections/displays

Choosing how to display various histories/stories/information can have a profound impact on visitors. There are strengths and weaknesses in choosing to focus on inclusive collections/displays, as opposed to exclusive, and vice versa. What are those strengths and weaknesses? Is a collection that only tells a select part of a story still as valid as one that chooses to tell the whole story? How can an exclusive display still appeal to others whose history has not been shown?

Challenging/Contentious Displays vs Safe Displays

Why do people visit museums? Is it to acknowledge that some stories are open to debate and therefore certain views may be challenged? Do people expect to have their beliefs and conceptions questioned? If so, there may be value in contentious displays. Perhaps these create dialogue, causing people to define themselves differently. Alternatively, if this may lead to refusal to accept the various displays, to refute or reject them completely, and if so, has this attempt at memorialisation and remembrance been a valuable exercise? Perhaps safe displays are more ‘visitor friendly’, while still educating people in a ‘safe way’. Is this the overall purpose of a museum?

There will be a number of local and international speakers, launch of Display Books, launch of Artefacts database and report.

07/07/2006

WANTED: Ideas on a Museum to the Conflict in and about Northern Ireland

Healing Through Remembering (HTR) issued an Open Call for Ideas on what form a Living Memorial Museum to the conflict in and about Northern Ireland should take – and as part of the project held 7 special public workshops across Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Great Britain.

The concept of a Living Memorial Museum (LMM) is one recommendation being examined by HTR, and an important part of the ongoing discussions is what form such a museum could take.

The LMM sub group were looking for a range of imaginative ideas and heard from adults and children alike.

There were plenty of options to think about. Should a museum be in a new building or an existing one? Should it be in one building or should it tour a number of places and sites? Maybe it shouldn’t be a building at all - maybe a virtual space on the internet.

Submissions to the Open Call for Ideas came in many forms including written, photographical, drawings, sketches and paintings. Photographs of models and multi-media submissions such as DVDs or CD-Roms were also welcome.

The public workshops included information about HTR and its work, and artists were there to help people create their vision of the museum.

Workshop were held at the following venues:
18 July The Clinton Centre Enniskillen
28 July The Border Arts Centre Dundalk
8 August Imperial War Museum London
12 August St. Patricks Trian Armagh
24 August Irish Film Institute Dublin
7 September Waterfront Hall Belfast
16 September The Junction L/Derry

Further information can be obtained by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or calling +44 (0)28 9023 8844.

HTR has been supported in the project by The Border Arts Centre, the Imperial War Museum London, the University of Ulster and Interface, the university’s Centre for Research in Art, Technologies and Design.