HERITAGE, INTERPRETATION AND BRANDING

BOSSE LAGERQVIST

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Oxford English Dictionary HERITAGE VALUES: INTERPRETATION (Internet, 9 Nov, 2018) Interpretation 1. a. The action of interpreting or explaining; explanation, exposition. b. The faculty or power of interpreting. Obsolete c. The technique of obtaining information from a photograph, esp. an aerial photograph 2. a. An explanation given; a way of interpreting or explaining b. Construction put upon actions, purposes, etc. c. The representation of a part in a drama, or the rendering of a musical composition, according to one's conception of the author's idea

3. The way in which a thing ought to be interpreted; proper explanation; hence, Signification, meaning

4. The action of translating; a translation or rendering of a book, word, etc. Obsolete

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG HERITAGE VALUES: INTERPRETATION

- a formal activity within museums and heritage management - implies notions of target group, audience, activity, media format, exhibit

- a continuous component of the broad variety of heritage practices - implies guidance for how to perform actions, interventions, and outcome aims

- made within a societal context that explicitly or discreetly creates frames for interpretation - implies need of critical problematisation of the role, goal and context for the interpretation

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: Basic principle Heritage policies, societal needs provides a frame

Interpretation of Contextualisation, what properties/ Interpretation of interpretation of the qualities to record recorded data to situational for general on what objects / information knowledge development Outputs such as phenomena exhibitions, panels, DATA INFORMATION KNOWLEDGE books, films, teaching, etc.

Outputs such as Recording of objects and reports, measured Situational object- phenomena, /problem-specific drawings, etc., for The ’normal’ under- collection of data knowledge operative use in standing on where heritage practice interpretation is done situations UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: Recording process

“The supposition that data is not affected by age or lessening value, but that it lies in the archives and becomes more valuable every year, is one of the most dangerous assumptions of the museum profession. /…/Different demands should beforehand be placed at the planning stage on forthcoming research material, including a basic formulated problem which has as its main aim the arrangement of data in a meaningful sequence.”

Matyas Szabo, Some aspects of museum documentation, 1986

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: Recording process

Tangible tracks on the object Tangible tracks Intangible tracks The local context Measure from the object from the object (the landscape) Physical properties Archive People Local community Environmental dependant (informants) Local/regional Literature infrastructure/ Sampling Archive context Materials, on-going processes Literature Products People (informants) Photography Archive Systematic Analytic photography Literature diff. wave lengths Products (UV, IR, X-ray) Heritage recording: Photogrammetry - Problem driven 3D-scanning - Interpretation based - Property/quality oriented

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: Recording process Object Depending on the Object today Time Now problem New input due to external influence Properties/qualities Interpretation Gaps – lack of information Material – Intangible Then Increasing – Decreasing Stable – Temporarily Properties/Qualities Interpretation: The ability to identify, characterise and assess relevant properties

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: Basic principle Heritage policies, societal needs provides a frame

Interpretation of Contextualisation, what properties/ Interpretation of interpretation of the qualities to record recorded data to situational for general on what objects / information knowledge development Outputs such as phenomena exhibitions, panels, DATA INFORMATION KNOWLEDGE books, films, teaching, etc.

Outputs such as Recording of objects and reports, measured Situational object- phenomena, /problem-specific drawings, etc., for The ’normal’ under- collection of data knowledge operative use in standing on where heritage practice interpretation is done situations UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: increase understanding

High-quality interpretation can: o learn about heritage, support formal education; o enhance visit, ability to connect with qualities of the heritage; o local engagement, community ownership and stewardship; o promote conservation; o encourage behaving more responsible; o paying visitors satisfaction, i.e. generating an income; o encourage return visits; and o benefit competitiveness.

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: increase understanding Main Principles of Interpretation ̵ Provoke – attention, curiosity, interest ̵ Relate – to everyday life ̵ Reveal – messages in imaginative & creative ways ̵ Address the whole – help to illustrate the main interpretative theme ̵ Strive for unity – in design and by linking design to message

Target Audiences ̵ The intended group for which something is designed ̵ Can have a main and secondary target audiences ̵ Drives the interpretation approach

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: increase understanding A good text panel will – Awake the visitors interest – Relate to the visitor’s world – Reveal a surprising discovery – Will have a maximum of 80 words – Have a clear target audience – Be interactive

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION: Basic principle Heritage policies, societal needs provides a frame

Interpretation of Contextualisation, what properties/ Interpretation of interpretation of the qualities to record recorded data to situational for general on what objects / information knowledge development Outputs such as phenomena exhibitions, panels, DATA INFORMATION KNOWLEDGE books, films, teaching, etc.

Outputs such as Recording of objects and reports, measured Situational object- phenomena, /problem-specific drawings, etc., for The ’normal’ under- collection of data knowledge operative use in standing on where heritage practice interpretation is done situations UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG INTERPRETATION– the bigger picture

Formation of heritage values, or What becomes heritage

Present Imagined, interpreted concepts of heritage, Imagined, interpreted societal conditions, the Past Future Filter purpose of heritage: Filter Identity, legitimacy Effects from memory righteousness, power, Strategies for memory production inclusion, unifying, production development, Historical research exclusion, meaning, etc. Urban and land use planning, regional Heritage interpretation development & documentation Critically examine needs Heritage interpretation Who are the stakeholders & documentation

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Frames for defining heritage Assimilatory or single-core models One set of common values is accepted, no pluralisation Heritage: Instrument for assimilation of ’outsiders’ into the core, strengthening the core for the ’insiders’ Melting pot models Ethnically diverse groups melted into a new homogenous identity Settler societies with long term immigration, typically USA; or diverse identities going from colonial regime to independence Heritage: Settler societies, willingness to abandon heritage background (the ‘baggage’) for the new identity Postcolonial nation building, new heritage based on pre-colonial roots Core+ Models Postcolonial societies in the process of nation-building, core identity, distinctive minority cultures as add-ons not to be incorporated Heritage: Instrument for creating and sustaining leading culture, enhance core by promoting values of add-ons (e.g. Little Italy, Chinatown, etc) Pillar models A set of self-contained ‘pillars’ with little interconnection. Intentional or unintentional Heritage: Each group manages its own heritage for its own benefit (e.g. Belgium: Flanders with Dutch, Wallonia with French) Salad bowl models Multiculturalism, ingredients brought together, As a ‘mosaic’ (fragments put together creating a pattern), As a ‘rainbow’ (different colours produce a regular pattern by remaining distinct) Ashworth, G. J. , Graham, B. J., Tunbridge, J. E. Heritage: As an inclusive instrument – everyone are invited to take part of the heritages / As an exclusive instrument – (2007) Pluralising pasts. Heritage, identity and place cultural empowerment in multicultural societies. London : Pluto Press.

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Frames for defining Concepts of heritage heritage and conservation approaches

Dean Sully (2013) Conservation Theory and Practice. Materials, Values, and People in Heritage Conservation In: The International Handbooks of Museum Studies, Volume IV: Practice. First Edition. Edited by Conal McCarthy. General Editors: Sharon Macdonald and Helen Rees Leahy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Valuation is in focus

To guide society’s definition on ’what is heritage’

To guide interventions (conservation)

The need for valuation – linked to modernism (developed during the 19th century)

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Alois Riegl, Art historian, Vienna 1900: Values

Unintentional monuments Comemorative values: Age value: Premature ageing as offensive as new additions in an old structure The object should age on its own conditions Age value could come in conflict with preservation motives

Budapest

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Alois Riegl, Art historian, Vienna 1900: Values

Unintentional monuments Comemorative values: Age value: Premature ageing as offensive as new additions in an old structure The object should age on its own conditions Age value could come in conflict with preservation motives

Historic The perceived original appearance are value: more important than the tracks of time

St Malo UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Alois Riegl, Art historian, Vienna 1900: Values

Unintentional monuments Comemorative values: Age value: Premature ageing as offensive as new additions in an old structure The object should age on its own conditions Age value could come in conflict with preservation motives

Historic The perceived original appearance are value: more important than the tracks of time Operative value: Utility value: The preserved structure is a resource for different stakeholders or a specific objective

Wine cellers, Rogljevo

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Alois Riegl, Art historian, Vienna 1900: Values Unintentional monuments Operative value: Art value: All monuments have an art value through their relation with contemporary aesthetic ideals (“kunstwollen”) - News value – the new, modern - Relative art value – the perceived difference between historic and present aesthetic ideals

Museum of modern art,

KiasmaUNIVERSITY, Helsinki OF GOTHENBURG Haga Nygata, Gothenburg Alois Riegl: Operativa values - relative art value

Negative value Positive value Rejection, destruction Preservation Counteracts development of age value Underpins possible development of age value due to negative apprehensions of utility values and news values

Value Gentrification Nominal value

Resources (conservation)

Destruction Time

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Alois Riegl, Art historian, Vienna 1900: Values Intentional monuments

The relative art value can become political/ societal impossible

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG LANDSCAPE VALUES The landscape and its values. Something to look at, the scenery, or Tomas Germundsson: Instead of taking departure primarily in the aesthetics of the visual landscape, it is crucial to reverse the focus and take departure in the fact that the cultural landscape is one that is worked and formed by people. If this were done, the meaning of landscape would increasingly become associated with the wants, beliefs, potentialities and powers of people living within the landscape. This would not exclude visual or aesthetic aspects, but it would ground them in local culture, not in a normative set of guidelines formed elsewhere. (Professor, Department of Human Geography, Lund University)

Ergo: Peoples-based heritage

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG HERITAGE AND THE LANDSCAPE

Hollow post mill

Stone fences, traditional field structure

Photo: Bosse Lagerqvist

Photo: Bosse Lagerqvist

Pruned trees to provide winter feed to cattle

Photo: Bosse Lagerqvist Cow grazing on traditional outlying land

Photo: Bosse Lagerqvist

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG HERITAGE AND THE LANDSCAPE

All photos from Univ of Gothenburg, Craftlab films, available at Not only physical properties - also intangible qualities https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCISZUm8lwGl1e0I1kmgMaMw UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Heritage Place branding – the concept Strategic resource for Place branding

What is ’place branding’ Brand = trademark:

A name, concept, symbol, design, or a Place Branding is an umbrella term for activites in combination of these that identifies a product - place marketing, or service that is offered to consumers, and - place management, where the product/service need to contain - destination image, identity, profile and image - destination branding and - the place-of-origin effect. To distinguish the three concepts, identity - the product's deeper character It is an economic and social phenomenon that is profile - the aspects of identity that one chooses to attracting increasing interests from practitioners mediate outwards, with the goal of influencing the and academics. image the target group has of the product

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples

The museum was founded in the form of a collaborative venture in 1986, involving seven municipalities and two county museums.

In 1990, an institution was created with ten founding members: the seven minicipalities (Ludvika and Smedjebacken in Dalarna, and Norberg, Fagersta, Skinnskatteberg, Surahammar and Hallstahammar in Västmanland); two county museums (Dalarna and Västmanland); and a tourist organization, Westmannaturism. At that time it brought together some 50 heritage sites, which are run by volunteers belonging to various local-heritage associations.

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples

68 sites on iron production

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG EKOMUSEUM BERGSLAGEN

Granted prospecting rights, metals and industrial minerals

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Kingdom of Crystal Landscape branding - examples “In the Kingdom of Crystal (Glasriket) handblown glass has been made since 1742. /…/ As a visitor you will encounter today both everyday glass and art glass of world- class quality, and you are welcome to step up to the glass furnaces to see it being created! Every year more than a million visitors come here to a small area in Kronoberg and Kalmar counties in Småland that includes the municipalities of Emmaboda, Lessebo, Nybro and Uppvidinge. /…/ But beyond the heat of the blowing rooms, there is also much to experience. /…/ Why not fish in some of the many lakes, ride a bicycle trolley on one of the old railway tracks or take a course to teach yourself the basics of glassblowing?”

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples

17sites on glass production

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG The Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland Landscape branding - examples World Heritage: “The decorated farmhouses of Hälsingland represent an outstanding collection of farmhouses with more than 1,000 well- preserved farms and about 400 room decorations still in situ. The density of intact preserved decorated rooms is unparalleled...

The farms... are outstanding examples of how independent farmers within a small geographical area combined a highly developed building tradition with a rich folk art tradition in the form of decoratively painted interiors especially for celebrations.

These decorated farms bear witness of a culture that has disappeared today, but whose buildings and interiors with their variations, richness and quality, have been preserved in an exceptional way... and are of outstanding universal value.”

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG The tradition of cultivating flax can Landscape branding - examples be traced as far back as the third century CE, but it was during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries that flaxen thread brought really big incomes. Many women had to struggle hard with pulling, stripping, combing, and spinning when everything from rough to fine cloth was to be woven and then sold to the rest of the country. Perhaps the drudgery spurred the farmers a little more to try to find a better, more efficient way. They gradually succeeded when water power could do more of the job through the scutches and stamps of the rivers. Flax cultivation and linen-weaving continued up through the interwar era, but the heyday for flax was between 1750 and 1850.

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples Fortified churches

The southeastern Transylvania region in Romania currently has one of the highest numbers of existing fortified churches from the 13th to 16th centuries. It has more than 150 well preserved fortified churches of a great variety of architectural styles (out of an original 300 fortified churches).

The Saxon villages of Transylvania appeared in the twelfth century when the Kings of Hungary settled German colonists in the area. Being situated in a region constantly under the threat of the Ottoman and Tatar invasions, they built fortifications of different sizes.

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG D.O.Q. Priorat Landscape branding - examples

Area 499 km2 Inhabitants (2017) 9345 Density 19 inhab/km2 Municipalities 23

The Cartoixa (Carthusian Monastery) of Scala Dei started in 12th centyury wine‐making in the DOQ Priorat region. Medieval myth: From the highest tree in the valley a staircase had appeared along which angels ascended to heaven. The story gave name to the monastery and created an iconography strongly rooted to the region.

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Landscape branding - examples D.O.Q. Priorat Priorat is the only “Denominació de Origen Qualificada”, together with Rioja, in Spain

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place (Landscape) Branding – target: Tourism (the consumer)

Landscape planning = destination development

Challenge for the heritage practice: - Heritage is as much a process as a product - Historical remains as re-interpretable phenomena through such processes - Superficial generalised narratives vs. the complexity of societal development in history

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Tourist - Definition One that makes a tour for pleasure or culture (Merriam-Webster dictionary) A tourist is a person who is visiting a place for pleasure and interest, especially when they are on holiday (Collins English dictionary) Is anyone who travels to places other than the one in which is his habitual residence, outside of their everyday environment, for a period of at least one night but not more than one year and whose usual purpose is different from the exercise of any remunerated activity in the place to which he goes (Ferri, 2014, A Business Model for Accessible Tourism) Temporary visitor staying at least twenty-four hours in the country visited for a purpose classified as either holiday (recreation, leisure, sport, and visit to family, friends, or relatives), business, official mission, convention, or health reasons (Contemporary Human Resources Management in the Tourism Industry, 2019) A person who vacations in people's lives, takes pictures, puts them in his scrapbook, and moves on. All he's interested in are stories. Basically, their selfish. (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tourist)

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Tourist / Visitor - Definition Tourism is defined as the activities of persons identified as visitors. A visitor is someone who is making a visit to a main destination outside his/her usual environment for less than a year for any main purpose [including] holidays, leisure and recreation, business, health, education or other purposes….This scope is much wider than the traditional perception of tourists, which included only those travelling for leisure. (UNWTO statistics Guidelines, 2010) 1) Tourists – visitors staying away from home for one or more nights for any of the purposes noted above (domestic, or from abroad). (2) Same Day visitors – spending at least 3 hours away from home outside their usual environment for general leisure, recreational and social purposes. Many are local residents of an area. (3) Leisure day visitors – spending less than 3 hours away from home but outside their usual environment, for general leisure, recreational or social purposes. Most of this third group of visitors are also residents of destinations and their local catchment areas.

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – the tourism industry Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing sectors with bookings in 2017 reaching almost $1.6 trillion. [1 600 000 000 000]

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – the tourism industry Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing sectors with bookings in 2017 reaching almost $1.6 trillion. [1 600 000 000 000] Tripadvisor is one of the industries most heavily relied on source for travel information with over 324 million monthly visitors recorded in 2017

Travel and tourism in 2017 contributed 10.4% to global GDP (gross domestic product). That’s 4.6% more than the previous year (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2018)

Globally, almost 10% of all jobs are linked to the travel and tourism industry. (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2018)

In 2017, US $882.4 billion was invested in Tourism. That is forecasted to rise by 4.8% 2018, and continue to rise by 4.3% year on year, making total investment US $1,408.3 billion by 2028. (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2018) 54% of all travellers answered that they were ‘quite likely’ to book their vacation with a tour operator that specialised in sustainable travel. 19% were very likely. (Statista, 2017)

Millennials are 13% more likely to travel to a destination with cultural or historical significance. (Responsible travel, 2017) [born 1980-2000]

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – the tourism industry

Number of overnight Total Swedish Foreign stays in Sweden

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – the tourism industry Tourism consumtion in Sweden, billion SEK

Tillväxtverket, fakta om svensk turism 2017

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – the tourism industry Employee average (2000, index=100)

Average employed in tourism in Sweden

Average for total employment in Sweden

Tillväxtverket, fakta om svensk turism 2017

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – the tourism industry

Number of guest nights (10 biggest tourism regions)

Tillväxtverket, fakta om svensk turism 2017

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – the tourism industry Cultural tourism is a type of tourism activity in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions (United Nations World Tourism Organization) Science tourism Nature tourism Gastronomy tourism City tourism Disaster tourism World Heritage tourism

… UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – cultural tourism activities Possibilities Revitalised craft skills and technologies to meet demands on all levels develop resources to maintain and develop skills and technologies Food production to meet ecological and sustainable demands site development – stores, restaurants, training facilities Reuse of existing resources and structures (desolate builduings) Courses on how to restore and thus producing resources for housing, restaurants, venues of different kinds cf. Landsbygdsdröm Hela Sverige

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Place branding – cultural tourism activities Possibilities Revitalised craft skills and technologies to meet demands on all levels develop resources to maintain and develop skills and technologies Food production to meet ecological and sustainable demands site development – stores, restaurants, training facilities Reuse of existing resources and structures (desolate builduings) Courses on how to restore and thus producing resources for housing, restaurants, venues of different kinds cf. Landsbygdsdröm Hela Sverige Sustainable tourism: - use of environmental resources helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity - socio-cultural authenticity of host communities contributing to cultural understanding and tolerance - viable, long-term economic operations, socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG