Memories and Histories

"Everyone has memories and histories.   In all sorts of ways ‘who you are’ is shaped by what is  passed on - generation after generation. It might be the memories in your family, the type of work that was done where you live, the things around you, the big events that have changed lives.  All of these things shape us as people and communities.  In this project - which focuses on Rochdale Pioneers Museum in, Lancashire, home of the Co-op movement and  Unite the Community Union and the Miners’ Offices in Barnsley - we will look at what can be called  'social haunting’ - the ways in which the present is haunted by the past.  For example In the case of Rochdale how have the values of the Rochdale Pioneers, or the number of co-op shops  influenced and shaped local lives, identities and thinking? In Barnsley, how might something like the miners’ strike, miners welfare halls etc.  impact on who people think they are and what they feel? What social ghosts are still around and are they negative or positive? Are new ones emerging?  How do they shape the identity of communities and people?   In both locations we will have what we are calling Ghost-Labs,  (virtual and real places!) where we will bring together artists and local residents to investigate the 'social ghosts'  in the two landscapes. Expect art based workshops, roving reporters, interviews and events in each location as well as a Ghost Lab hotline."  
Cilla