Barcelona Day Bed + Blanket

Still in the same room (as all the typewriters) - here's our 'spare' bed, for guests to enjoy a night's sleep at our place, which is also often used in the day for as quiet place to read - it is called a 'day bed' after all.
The symposium I went to last week led by Space Place Practice http://www.uwe.ac.uk/sca/research/place/space.htm  got me thinking about a lot of things, which I'll write about in the next few comments. One of which came up was the idea of liminality - it's put quite simply in another blog that is dedicated to travel, which I think is the most easiest experience of liminality to understand and empathise with ...

'Liminal experiences are those that are characterized by transitions from one state of being to another. Tourists experience liminality when they transition from a home-based state of being to a travel-based state. Liminality also occurs during rights of passage, such as graduating from school, becoming married, becoming a parent, or becoming a new employee of a company. The liminal experience is one of becoming something different, and is potentially transformative, with a shedding of the old and a creation of something new, but also a period of vulnerability and weakness in the face of an uncertain future.'
From:
http://tourismplace.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/i-hate-being-liminal.html

I've been going through some kind of liminal experience in each room I blog about - (I and) the room always changes in some way afterwards - the space (of the room) becomes a liminal one (in my head at least) when I begin to analyse it. I think I am going through a shift within myself anyway, so therefore this has led to me (through this project) analysing how I live, the objects and items I live with, and their placement within my home - and, in turn, how this affects my life.

I have also been thinking about nostalgia and the idea of using the old to help us apply new meanings to the future. There was a great line in the symposium which I wrote down. "You can't ignore the past, but you don't have to stay there." A bit more about that tomorrow ...

Any similar thoughts P?

Tues 18 Sept.
There were interesting comments from Artist Jane Bailey who's current art practice focuses on engaging with and evoking the lives of older adults in rural North Cornwall. Her work both explores and generates connections between people, and between people and places, which reflects on the contemporary art processes that she employs including: conversing; recording; editing; reflecting; balancing. She has been working with people who have dementia, and was talking about them in reference to being nostalgic, and people often remembering events from their past much more clearly than occurences that had happened recently. As their long term memory is so much clearer than their short-term, they are actually existing in two places, at any one time.

I'm wondering if objects and items from the past, give us more of a sense of 'belonging' than the fabric of the homes that we currently live in. Items that I surround myself with (in my home) seem to make much more sense of 'my position in the world, now.' I know that if I see a photograph of, or an item from our 'family' home it has so much more resonance, and is full of potency, but I couldn't look at those objects on a daily basis.

In relevance to the above, maybe I should comment about the blanket on the bed ...?

Nanna's Knives. Utensil.

We have various inherited items within the kitchen, some are never used but are kept purely for nostalgic reasons (there’s that word again).

These knives belonged to my maternal grandmother – Frances. My mother thinks they were probably a wedding present, and despite the box being a little worn at the edges, the six knives within are just like new; I suspect they were rarely used – or perhaps ‘kept for best’. I actually love the box label more than the knives! and perhaps it is about time they were put to use?

In total contrast to these beautifully kept knives, in the same drawer we have something that belonged to D’s mother – it is the most basic of implements – we assume it was used to lower eggs in and out of boiling water? I think on average I probably use ten percent of the objects within this particular drawer, maybe it’s time to spring clean?