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Reactivating Neglected Heritages, Reweaving Unspoken Memories. A Study on the Adaptive Reuse of Former Asylums into “mind museums”.

Project description

New uses for old asylums

Asylums usually hold a dark place in popular imagination. The EU-funded ReMIND project offers new uses for old institutions, exploring the history of mental illness through asylums that operated across Europe. The focus centres on facilities built from the mid-19th century to the 1960s, when the process of de-institutionalisation was introduced in psychiatric care. ReMIND will survey abandoned psychiatric institutions and how some have been reused for cultural purposes. The project will analyse former asylums that have been restored and reused as museums via two pilot studies. This will also help develop new research competence in fields like visitor studies and heritage studies.

Objective

ReMIND focuses on the potentials for ‘mind museums’(former asylums turned into museums)to provoke emotional responses in visitors and foster critical reflection on the histories and contemporary problems of dealing with mental illness (MI) in society.Its objective is to fill some relevant scientific gaps on the subject, as well as to conjoin complimentary disciplinary approaches from museum and exhibition design and museum studies and develop new research competence for me as fellow and for the host institution in the field of visitor studies.
ReMIND explores the MI heritage landscape through asylums built in Europe from the mid-19th cent until the 60s’ deinstitutionalisation process in the psychiatric care system.Today most of these buildings still stand where they were, often completely or partially abandoned, left to decay, and contributing to urban decline.ReMIND will survey the European landscape of MI heritage considering phenomena such as abandonment and reuse of historic asylums for cultural purposes.However alongside this general desk-based overview, its main aim is to analyse former asylums that have been restored and reused as museums, specifically involving 2 indepth interdisciplinary pilot case studies.Nowadays we don’t have a sense of potentials for the responsible adaptive re-use of asylums and they are in danger.Likewise once converted into museums, their role in effecting attitudinal change in visitors that may help to dismantle stigma and promote awareness toward MI has not been properly investigated.ReMIND addresses these gaps.
To do so my study will integrate various disciplinary approaches to rethink adaptive reuse interventions and contemporary heritage conservation and valorisation practices.I will work at the intersection of different research fields, moving from Italy to UK at New Castle University to learn, deploy and contribute in implementing theories and methodologies related to heritage studies, visitor studies, and display analysis.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Net EU contribution
€ 224 933,76
Address
KINGS GATE
NE1 7RU Newcastle Upon Tyne
United Kingdom
Region
North East (England) Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Tyneside
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 224 933,76