J. Decker introduction to Place: Narratives, Visualizations, Access and Contexts

     My research over the past two decades has centered on place, first through scholarly research in the field of reception theory, resulting in an examination of an engraved series of prints that showcased a region that became a 19th century tourist attraction; then and, in a more sustained manner, through my work as a practitioner as well as a scholar of public art. As a conservation and education practitioner in Cleveland, Ohio, I managed the public sculpture collection for the city, researched the city’s historic and contemporary collections of public sculpture, worked with contracted conservators to determine risk assessment, wrote grants for conservation treatment, and managed volunteers to take care of the sculptures—their sculptures—each summer. While working very closely at sculpture sites, I began to see first-hand how critical such spaces, places, and sites were to the construction of identity—in terms of individuals, communities, and regions. Then, I turned my attention toward researching monuments (particularly memorials tied to the American Civil War) and the ways in which they construct, deconstruct, and (even) obfuscate identity and memory.  

John Constable's English Landscape, Art Institute of Chicago

Re-dedication of public sculpture to Ohio educator, Harvey Rice. See here.

I am leading a public history site visit based upon my research on site and memory
(paper: "Louisville’s Confederate Monument: Narratives of Commemoration, Loss, and Gender")

I Skuggan av Kriget: Museet som Flyktingförläggning, Malmöhus Slott, Malmö MuseerJune 2015

Thus, my interest in the topic of place relates to the ways in which we construct place and in which place is constructed — physically as well as conceptually. What narratives are invested in these sites? How do we visualize the narratives as well as the experiences at sites over time? How do we gain access to them? Who garners control over that? And what, ultimately, contributes to a site's context—and our context?

My first visit to Malmö in June/July 2015.
The Turning Torso is in the back left of this frame;  
Ribersborg beach is in the foreground. How does each of these sites constitute place?

Introduction to our Labinar Topic

Place: Narratives, Visualizations, Access and Contexts 

A "labinar" (lab/seminar) held in conjunction with the Malmö University-Rochester Institute of Technology Symposium October 8-10, 2015

Welcome to our blog which is intended to offer a space for discussion and dissemination. If you wish to contribute to our blog, please email me jdgsh [at] rit.edu & I will add you to our list of contributors.
    Our labinar takes its cues from the fundamental concept of placemaking, that is the connection between people, culture, contexts, geography/site, and design. By engaging in conversations about place, we ultimately seek to frame discussions about people and their association to a place or places and its extension as a form of individuation or community. What narratives emerge from place? How is place visualized? How do we obtain access to place? And, what is the cultural context(s) of place? What role does/can/should technology play in creating meaningful experiences in locales that have a strong sense of place? 

   The four co-organizers come from Museum Studies, Communication, Industrial Design, and Sustainability—disciplines that look critically at sites, narratives, objects, the built environment, and locations as emblems of context. By inviting conversation around the topic of place we hope to engage in discussions that ask us to think about the ways in which individuals and communities obtain access to and navigate through their environments; how they engage with place on familiar and unfamiliar terrain, in the short-term and long-term; and how they engage with the other members of the communities surrounding them.
   We see this topic as appropriate for the Malmö symposium due to five factors—two related to academia and three to community: 1) the nature of the academic institution such that students are transient though faculty and staff tend to be less so—how is our understanding of our campus(es) framed in light of this?; 2) RIT’s accomplishments and further initiatives in study abroad through global campuses and partnerships; 3) the historical past of Rochester as a manufacturing center, Flower City, Flour City, and its current move toward high-tech sciences; 4) Malmö’s transition from a shipbuilding industry to a knowledge industry; and 5) the highly complex constitution of Malmö’s population, as impacted by transitional industry and immigration, as well as very new efforts in Malmö to become the world’s most international city (“Little Big Malmö).

   Co-organizers will establish a blog for the labinar in advance of the symposium (here). That site will house our introductions to this topic and the lenses through which we view Place: Narratives, Visualizations, Access and Contexts. Each participant will be asked to contribute to this blog during/after the labinar to introduce themselves and their work (brief) and to provide a space for discussion and dissemination, as well as engagement with those unable to attend the symposium. 

Place: Narratives, Visualizations, Access and Contexts  is co-organized by:

Juilee Decker, Ph.D. Assoc. Professor, Museum Studies, College of Liberal Arts
Andrea Hickerson, Ph.D. Assoc. Professor, School of Communication, College of Liberal Arts
Roger Chen, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, Department of Sustainability, Golisano Institute for Sustainability
Mindy Magyar, M.F.A., Asst. Professor, Industrial Design Program, School of Design, College of Imaging Arts & Sciences