Project

Vernacular; Heritage; Archaeology; Photography; Emotions; Amateurship

Lead
Présentée au Laténium (Neuchâtel, 2019/2020), l’exposition « Emotions patrimoniales » mettra en valeur des photographies privées et des témoignages personnels de l’attachement des particuliers pour l’archéologie régionale et nationale. Complétée par un large éventail de manifestations de médiation, cette exposition illustrera le rapport intime qu’entretiennent nos contemporains avec le patrimoine - par contraste avec le caractère plus spectaculaire et consumériste de la valorisation touristique usuelle des sites antiques.
Lay summary
EMOTIONS PATRIMONIALES Le projet FNS de communication scientifique « Emotions patrimoniales » s’appuie sur une démarche participative relayée par de multiples canaux de communication, qui livrera les matériaux de l’exposition ainsi que les documents mis en ligne de manière durable sur des plateformes numériques d’archives historiques (notreHistoire.ch, lanostraStoria.ch, etc.). Ce projet est fondé sur les enseignements de la recherche interdisciplinaire « History of Motorway Excavations in Switzerland (1958-2010) », qui a mis en évidence l’impact notable de la professionnalisation et du tournant de l’éthique préventive sur l’image sociale de l’archéologie. Ces mutations récentes ont en effet été mal vécues au sein des réseaux d'amateurs qui assuraient auparavant tant la recherche que la protection et la mise en valeur publique du patrimoine. Répondre à la dépossession symbolique des amateurs Le projet apporte une réponse constructive à une rupture symbolique entre professionnels et amateurs, ceci tant par sa démarche participative que par la thématique abordée - ces « émotions patrimoniales » qui n'animent pas seulement la passion des amateurs, mais également l'action des professionnels de l'archéologie.

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 27.02.2018

Natural persons

Communication	Title	Media	Place	Year

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

Emotions patrimoniales: Swiss archaeology in visual collective memory "The emotions of each and every one of us transform archaeology into heritage": this is the message of the SNSF scientific communication project AGORA Emotions patrimoniales: Swiss archaeology in visual collective memory. The goal of this project is to create an exhibition showcasing the personal relationship of the inhabitants of our country with regional archaeological heritage through vernacular photographs. This exhibition will be held at the Laténium (Neuchâtel) from Spring 2019 to December 2019 and be complemented by a wide variety of cultural mediation events.This project addresses the upheavals in the relationship between archaeology and society as evidenced and analysed in the interdisciplinary SNSF research project « History of Motorway excavations in Switzerland (1958-2010) » which we led from 2013 to 2017. We were indeed able to identify a growing, tacit and not-fully-endorsed rift between archaeologists and the intended recipients of their efforts towards heritage conservation.The rise of so-called "preventive" archaeology over the past decades has actually led to the professionalisation of archaeological practises, the field itself becoming part of an array of technocratic procedures in heritage conservation governed by the goals and interests of land development. In aiming mainly to clear a path for civil engineering, this new form of archaeology is invested in a substitute of safeguarding. This consists in meticulous documentation, construction of scientific knowledge and musealisation of inventoried material, which replaces the actual preservation of heritage. Beyond disenfranchising the collective, the current result of the fieldwork done by archaeological services, newly developed territory management tools and prospection techniques have also emancipated archaeologists, from informal networks of informants whom they traditionally depended upon. The end result is that citizens are reduced to being purely passive, which legitimises their being considered simply as an "audience" for archaeology, albeit an audience that the field caters to through extensive communication. The value derived from this, as well as the development of archaeological "mediation" (Kaeser 2016a; Kaeser in press), have put a definitive end to the direct and "organic" connectedness of the past. The design of the project « Emotions patrimoniales » is that of a participative approach. The first stage of the project will consist in gathering materials for the exhibit through a call for donations of personal photographs on a national level. Along with oral accounts by individuals, these materials will allow us to visually represent the unexpected place of archaeological heritage in individual and collective memory. It will also highlight its emotional impact on cross-generational sharing and in the construction of family and community identities. This exhibition will be held at the Laténium, an institution recognised both for the quality and originality of it cultural mediation work as well as its connections with the academic and professional milieus of archaeology. There will of course be a rich and diversified programme of various cultural mediation activities (workshops, interactive guided tours, round-tables, theatrical guided tours, etc.). These activities will mainly focus on cross-generational and cross-cultural encounters and produce opportunities for exchanges between archaeologists, donators of photographs and the audience. In conclusion, the dialogue set up on this occasion aims at redistributing the keys to personal reappropriation of archaeology's contributions to culture and society.