Ever growing potential of locative media opens up new possibilities for working with archival materials and their placement in the context of public space. Similarly, wide range of affordable mobile devices gives a rise to new palette of archival practices and methods of collecting and documenting. Slussen Project can be seen as a case study exemplifying a potential that this emergence offers in regard to archiving the social, cultural and historical aura of the space which is about to disappear.
The aim of this project was to analyze and protect from vanishing the ephemeral heritage that the old Slussen is leaving behind after being replaced with its successor. The ephemeral heritage is understood here as a range of non-intentional, intangible and ephemeral extensions that grew out of the structural and(dis)functional constraints and affordances of Slussen area. These might be stories, memories, relationships, acoustic situations or activities rooted in the very space and subsequently exposed to extinction once old Slussen is demolished. Systematic collection of geo-tagged sound-based material hence can be compared to a pro-active as oppose to retro-active archeology, aiming at sealing off the strata which in the future would be otherwise unreachable for profound excavating. The final stage of the project, which will be concluded in the future once the new architecture is completed, will aim at conceptualizing an immersive experience based on the analyzed findings. This time capsule – invisibly dispersed across new architecture of Slussen, although according to geographical references - due to the use of locative media technology will enable a non-linear, sonic experience, transporting listeners back to the ephemeral dimension of the old Slussen.
Besides Slussen Project, this presentation will shortly discuss other examples of employing locative technology to work with memory and its representation in public space.