Reconfiguration: fragments of time and place

Stone, Sally ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5406-139X (2023) Reconfiguration: fragments of time and place. In: As Found: experiments in preservation. Flanders Architectural Institute, Antwerp. ISBN 9789492567321

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Abstract

There is a process of transformation that occurs when an architectural element is removed from its original position and reused in another, possibly alien, environment. This act of appropriation allows the familiar to become unfamiliar, and the accustomed to become estranged. Thus, a shift in meaning can be generated by the change in context of objects and fragments, and the juxtaposition between the expected and unexpected, combined with the happenstance of the experience creates a bricolage of values that crosses time and place. The notion of taking something (an object) from one system of organisation and placing it in another can stimulate nostalgia (even for a place or time that has never existed for the viewer) promote surprise, summon delight, encourage reconciliation, or even invite dismay. These objects are engrained with the stories and histories of the people who have owned or use them, the people who made them and those who have edited them along the way. This act of translation, this rereading or interpretation provides the opportunity for reassessment.