Remembering Together is a national programme of remembrance managed by greenspace scotland, supported by the Scottish Government, bringing together communities and creative practitioners in collective acts of reflection, remembrance, hope and healing. visit: www.rememberingtogether.scot
The Remembering Together project for Aberdeen City is being managed by Station House Media Unit (shmu), in partnership with Aberdeen City Council, as part of the Culture Aberdeen, North East Culture Collective, initiative.
Like all the Remembering Together memorial projects, it will be co-created with a diverse range of local communities, geographical and of shared interest, working with creative practitioners to honour those that have lost their lives to Covid-19, reflect on all types of experiences during this time and what the hopes are for the city post pandemic.
The first phase of the Aberdeen City project started in late May with the appointment of our creative practitioner team. The team is made up 3 practitioners Maja Zeco, Caitlyn Main & Roos Dijkhuizen who will be facilitating the sessions across the city. All three have a wealth of co-created and participatory arts experience and are keen to have creative conversations with a wide demographic of the city’s residents.
The first phase of the project will run to the end of October, when recommendations, based on the creative conversations and co-design activity will be brought forward by the creative practitioner team. From these recommendations a further commission to deliver the memorial will be awarded. It is scheduled that the delivery of the second phase will be during the summer of 2023.
The memorial can take any creative form that the community consultations feel most appropriate and could include one or more artistic practices ranging from outdoor installations and creative gardens to festivals, performances, digital experiences and specific memorial sculptures.
It is the role of the creative practitioner to work with people in ways that are inclusive and relevant with the emphasis on co-creation to draw out what is appropriate and desired for the city.
For further information on the project please contact stewart.aitken@cultureaberdeen.org
The Remembering Together creative team will engage with communities through creative activities and dialogue, gathering ideas, stories and reflections that will be developed into a co-created audio-visual archive which will be a long lasting resource for the community and researchers. The materials and findings will be summarised in a report that will inform the development of the Aberdeen Covid community memorial/s (2nd phase of the project).
In their research phase so far the artists have been connecting with dance groups at Citymoves and reaching out to carer communities and health care workers, as well as youth in community radio and establishing archive partners. They enjoyed taking part in MELA Festival in August, where they had a stand and activities for the public to be part of.
We are open to hearing from people and organisations who want to connect to the project.
E: remembering.together.aberdeen@gmail.com
Links to our instagrams:
https://www.instagram.com/Caitlyn_Main/
https://www.instagram.com/rooshuiz/
https://www.instagram.com/Maja_Zeco/
Link to RT web :
https://www.rememberingtogether.scot
“The pandemic has affected us all in deep and personal ways. We are aware that communities have been affected in varying degrees and that the pandemic accelerated inequalities for marginalised groups. As artists from different backgrounds, we are interested to learn from Aberdeen communities. In the process, we would like to facilitate creative safe spaces through making, in order to inspire, and help us find a voice to express our experiences of this intense time. We are aware that talking about these personal struggles can be very difficult so we are keen to create an environment that is supportive, playful, and encouraging. We’ll also provide space for people to record their experiences and testimonies for future audio archive. The activities will be developed with the groups of people we work with, from writing and drawing, sound, to making with clay and outdoor activities. Following the principles of co-creation, our creative activities will be used as methods to explore creative ideas and the ways in which the future memorial might be shaped.”
