“[Heritage] is increasing concerned with story-telling and narrative, particularly telling alternative stories. “Archaeologists, especially historical archaeologists, think that writing stories is both an epistemic and an ethical imperative (Given 2004). “In small things forgotten” (Deetz 1977) we find the voices of the subaltern, the Other, those who have no voice in official records (slaves, women, blacks, the colonized).”

(Gonzalez-Ruibal 2008: 3).

The post-industrial landscape of the North forms the physical cultural remains of communities and livelihoods in which memories and local identity are rooted. As part of the overall Future North Project - Urban Preservation 2021 builds on the narrative techniques of UP 2019/2020 to explore the role community and people play in caring for the heritage of the local environment. The course also builds on previous AHO projects in the Arctic such as Vardø Restored and Future North, which has provided valuable insights and local networks. With this as a basis, students will work together with members of the local community using workshops and archival material to explore how the existing physical environment can be translated through developing community narratives. This will serve as part of the overall project to reconcile a sense of collective loss of identity and place as part of future curation and conservation. 

This will sit within the analysis and selection of buildings and sites of the overall project as part of the process of staking out a new course for Vardø’s historical townscape which is not restricted to objects with known heritage value – any part of the existing town structure can be included. The main point is to address the topic of re-use from a broad perspective, either in the form of established preservation techniques like transformation and adaptive re-use or emerging perspectives like circular heritage, which advocates a much stricter policy for demolition. Instead of tearing down old buildings of little current use – a practice granted by the current cultural heritage plans – a circular approach would involve techniques like upcycling, systematic storage of materials and community-based maintenance projects.

The urgency of this stems from the local climate and resource situation is of utmost important here. The Arctic is a harsh environment but the coldness combined with strong wind and a relatively low level of humidity means that old buildings material can be sustained for a long time. Vardø, with its unique range of housing from before world war two, is an example of both fast and slow weathering. The wooden vernacular architecture is going to be an object of closer investigation, as will the post-industrial structures which are now in different degrees of decay or use, depending on local needs, maintenance issues and economic resources. An important sub-theme is the number of buildings in Vardø which are currently vacant and empty – a problem as well as a possibility for the local community.