A c o nt e s t e d l a nd s c a p e
a heritage through collective memory using multiple narratives of The Maze / Long Kesh
Harrison Avery Stage 6 Thesis 19th June 2020 1
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Contents
Introduction 04
Phase 01 - the site’s transition to the edgeland
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- the reconstruction of the cell using multiple narratives
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- the redistribution of the cell into the flat
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Phase 02
Phase 03
Phase 04
- the projection of the narratives onto the liminal zone
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Bibliography 141
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Introduction
Image of The Maze / Long Kesh prison
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“As each layer fell one had the sense of getting closer to something, and the falling of each layer became, for me, a moment to contemplate why all of this happened. But the further one penetrated, the less seemed to be revealed, as if there were no answers at all.” Donovan Wylie
The Maze, as known by the government and prison officers, or Long Kesh, as known by the prisoners who served time on this 370 acre edgeland, has acted as a microcosm for the troubles throughout the various stages of the conflict. Since the release of the paramilitary / political prisoners in the year 2000 following the Good Friday Agreement, it has become a contested landscape, where the memory has been fractured by the various claims over what happened there. Even the name used can indicate which side of this claim to memory you reside upon. Long Kesh was the name given to the initial internment camps where ‘political prisoner’ status was given to those who entered. Therefore, the name Long Kesh symbolises that those inside were held and thought of themselves as political prisoners. The name The Maze was given to the site when political status was removed following the Gardiner report, and those who were subsequently sent there were defined as criminals. This name therefore became the official name and is used by the prison officers. Since the prison’s closure it has been subject to
various proposals as a way in which it can both move forward and reflect the progress since the troubles whilst also acting as reflection on such a difficult time in Northern Ireland’s history. Yet different memories and claims to victimhood have halted any such proposals for the site. Using a dissonant heritage, my thesis aims to focus on how or if it is possible to place structures onto a landscape which held so much of the chaos and various contradicting narratives casting it as a microcosm of the troubles. The thesis is split up into four phases, phase one focuses on the site’s transition into an edgeland state where, phase two introduces the ‘cell’ which holds the narrative transposed onto the site and the projections of the narratives into an architectural form. Phase three acts as the transition stage of the project into a post lockdown world of architectural production where the narratives are redistribute across my home in Heaton. The final phase reassesses the project as an architectural framing device for an approach to the site. 5
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Phase 01 - the site
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Diamuid Dalergey, Hunger, Some Mother’s son
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Far Left - Diamuid Dalargy Down on Dunseverick Strand
Still from Steve McQueen’s film Hunger
Still from Some Mother’s Son
The troubles archive contains a large number of pieces of art, film, and writings based upon the conflict which took place in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1998. The painting which stood out personally was Diamuid Dalargy’s Down on Dunseverick Strand, the black flags, synonymous with the hunger strikes at the Maze prison, scar the sky above a beach strewn with the lifeless bodies of the crude victims of the protest. They lay scattered on the beach along with the downfall of civilisation. This led to further investigation of the prison and its history through the troubles as well as its use before it became a prison. As well as this, I started to research the hunger strikes and their portrayal in the media such as film. Two such films were Hunger and
Some Mother’s Son. Both of which discuss the disturbing events which occurred during the hunger strike where ten people lost their lives. Hunger focuses specifically on Bobby Sands and his decision to lead himself and nine others to death to reach their goal of political status. It also portrays the physical violence taking place inside the H - Blocks and what this incurred externally onto the prison officers themselves. Some Mother’s Son portrayed a slightly different side to the hunger strikes. Not focusing on the prisoner, but instead the impact his potential death had on his mother and the rest of his family.
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Car racing at Long Kesh, 1958, Still from video, Digital Film Archive Northern Ireland
Nissen huts for political pri at Long Kesh, Photograph.
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1950
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Long Kesh as an RAF base during World War II, 1941, Photograph.
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Timeline of the site / Troubles
In 1976, the Britis removed politica which lead to the H Blocks and the
The prison has had a long history, originally marshland, it was built into an RAF Base during the second World War, and then to the prison which it is remembered for today. There were a number of strikes, murders and escape attempts which took place in the politically hostile structures of the prison. The iconic H-blocks staged the dirty protests and then the hunger strike in which ten prisoners lost their lives in an attempt to gain special category status as a political prisoner. Bobby Sands was the first to take up the hunger strike and became a member of parliament leading up to his death in 1981. Since the prison’s closure in 2000 following the Good Friday Agreement, it has been 10
partly demolished and large sections left abandoned. However, its location, around thirty minutes South-West of Belfast make it a unique site for development and investment. There have been two proposals, one in 2006, where a multi-sports stadium was planned to be in the centre of mixed-use scheme. A second development in 2013 for a conflict transformation centre. Currently the site is home to the Balmoral Showground where equestrian events take place as well as the Ulster Aviation Society. Some of the remaining prison buildings have been given listed status, with restoration work being done to maintain their condition.
In 1978, p the blank attempt t status
T In 1976, the Britisc removed politicas h which lead to the H Blocks and the
In 1978, p the blank attempt t status
T c s h
2006 masterplan proposal for the Maze / Long Kesh site, which placed a multi-puprose stadum at the heart of the site
Daniel Libeskind’s conflict transformation centre, which were dismissed in 2013.
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Interment and prison at Long Kesh / Maze
sh government al prisoner status, Interment e introduction of the Maze prison
and prison at Long Kesh / Maze
2000
1971
The Troubles
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1998
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The Troubles
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Political status was removed in 1976, prisoners were now housed in individual cells separated into four wings.
1998
isoners
prisoners at the Maze began ket and no wash strike in an to regain political prisoner
The previous strike had no effect causing an escalation into the hunger sh government strikes in which Bobby Sands MP lost al prisoner status, his life along with nine others e introduction of the
In 1997, LVF leader in the Maze prison Billy Wright was murdered on his way to a visit under suspicious circumstances by three INLA members
Maze prison
prisoners at the Maze began ket and no wash strike in an to regain political prisoner
The previous strike had no effect causing an escalation into the hunger strikes in which Bobby Sands MP lost his life along with nine others
In 2000, all prisoners were released following the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement
In 1997, LVF leader in the Maze prison Billy Wright was murdered on his way to a visit under suspicious circumstances by three INLA members
In 2000, all prisoners were released following the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement
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The proposed stadium masterplan for the site
The 2006 masterplan was based around a large arena which was thought to use sport to unite loyalists and republicans. The stadium would host Rugby, Football and Gaelic Football. The three of them would connect all corners of the island promoting a shared society1.
1 Louise Purbrick, Long Kesh/Maze: A Case for Participation in Post-Conflict Heritage (Brighton University, 2018), pp. 4–5.
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Daniel Libeskind’s proposal for a conflict transformation center First Floor Plan
The post conflict transformation centre occupied a small portion of the site adjacent to the WWII hangars. The building is orientated with views towards three quite arbitrary points seemingly as a way of ignoring the various traumas embedded into the site which occurred during the conflict. This might be an attempt to remove any opposition to the building, but it is only through engaging with such traumatic narratives that any proposal will be able to act as the future for the site or it will show just how impossible any proposal would be on such a contested landscape. The building instead attempts through generic functions as its approach to the site, names such as ‘peace lab’, ‘discussion space’ and ‘exhibition space’
are generic functions as a way of bypassing any meaningful interaction by the architect. It is in fact the ‘exhibition space’ and the discussion of artifacts which stopped this scheme from being built after receiving EU funding. There were concerns with the project becoming a museum and the problem with which memory of the site being portrayed through artifacts.
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A mural in Belfast describing the use of CR gas on prisoners during riots at The Maze / Long Kesh prison
The question about whose memory is expressed in any future development is the reoccurring problem hampering any of the previous proposals. Whilst the site is in limbo, it is occupied by three tenants, the Balmoral Agricultural Society who use it as a showground, the air ambulance use a small portion of the site and Ulster Aviation Society occupying the WWII hangars north of the prison.
an individual’s agenda. Both sides have weaponised the prison, escalating the difficulties around its future. This was an important obstacle to overcome in the approach to the site. Jo Littler uses the concept of ‘dissonant heritage’ where “various inheritances interconnect and can be changed through encounters rather than the constantly individualised model of elevating one person’s heritage above that of someone else’s”2
Choosing a memory to ‘memorialise’ on the site also presents problems, as throughout its time as a prison and after, it has been used for propaganda purposes to support
It is also difficult to get a wide range of sources from all the relevant sides to the argument. Republicanism have a reduced level of stigma against prisoners due to their long historical
2 J Littler, ‘British Heritage and the Legacies of “race’’”’, in The Politics of Heritage: The Legacies of ‘Race’, by J Littler and R Naidoo (London: Routledge), p. 7.
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A mural in Belfast in memory of the ten prisoners who lost their lives during the hunger strikes in 1981 in an attempt to regain political status
imprisonment3. Because of this there are far more shared sources from republicans, which means it has somewhat already become part of the site memory, especially from some of the propaganda which was sent from the site during its prison history. All this has made it easier for republicans to engage with the site and its future development as opposed to the prison officers and loyalists.
3 Brian Graham and Sara McDowell, ‘Meaning in the Maze: The Heritage of Long Kesh’, Cultural Geographies, 14.3 (2007), 343–68 (p. 350).
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Telling the story of the prison
A photograph of the inertia zone being demolished 2008 (Copyright Donovan Wylie/Magnum Photos).
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The main concern with the future of the Maze prison is not necessarily what is placed on the site, but how the site’s history is presented as heritage. This is the current obstacle for any development proposal of the 370-acre site. The two schemes were scrapped by Peter Robinson wo felt uncomfortable about the proposal, as it was not reflecting the narrative of the victims of the IRA and Sinn Fein were undermining the project for their own agenda4. This shows the problems for such a contentious site, how the narratives of the past are being used to create a heritage for the future is an important discussion for the future of The Maze. As only if this is done successfully will people learn from the events which occurred at The Maze prison. The republicans want existing buildings such as the hospital wing and the H-block to remain whereas most loyalists prefer the whole site to be levelled as an attempt to get past its troubling history. The reason for this is they fear the telling of the story within these
contentious buildings will be portrayed in the light of the prisoners and the victims of the hunger strike such as Bobby Sands. Yet they feel there are several parts to the story which are being hidden and lost to a one-sided description of the events which took place on the site.
4 ‘Robinson Stalls on Maze Peace Centre’, BBC News, 15 August 2013, section Northern Ireland <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-23706899> [accessed 11 February 2020].
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A device for viewing Right - Photograph of the device showing the changing perpsective and the projection of the narrative onto the drawing plane
Left - Photograph of the first review - the frames were arranged around the space of the cell, people were encouraged to walk inside and interact with each of the narratives represented by the two devices
To comprehend the event(s) which occurred at The Maze prison / Long Kesh, I placed the narratives from various victims within devices as a method of recording them. When Cahal Mclaughlin recorded memories as part of the Prison Memory Archive, he was conscious to label them as part of a life story methodology as opposed to a historical one. This was not because he thought some might be false but that this would allow for contradiction5. The device therefore when recording these memories does so in this way. It becomes a way of translating from the viewpoint during the event to one that can reproduce this
narrative to the observer. Not in an exact way but to allow for moments of contradiction and questioning. Each device is set up for a specific viewpoint and in this way creates a frontality between the spectator and the narrative. The viewpoint is specific depending on the narrative. The device creates a new code for perspective which implies my own agency in the positioning of the narrative contained within it, as well as being able to freeze the chaos of the narrative in a territory to intensify it within the frame6.
5 Cahal McLaughlin, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Inside Stories, Memories from the Maze and Long Keshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Journal of Media Practice, 7.2 (2006). 6 Elizabeth Grosz, Chaos, Territory, Art. Deleuze and the Framing of the Earth (New York: Rutgers University, 2008), p. 15.
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During the construction of the devices I analysed Marcel Duchamp’s work and his expansion of the gap between the object and representation in order for the fourth dimension to emerge. In his work Given, he brought back the ignored other eye which he used the term ‘blossoming’7. The device acts in a similar way where the narrative becomes a projection from the viewport where various manoeuvres have been used to create Duchamp’s term of ‘blossoming’ where the dimension of time unfreezes the intensity of the narrative contained in the device. 7 Penelope Haralambidou, Marcel Duchamp and the Architecture of Desire (Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2013), p. 23.
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Right - Haralambidou, Penelope. Stereoscopic Pair of Given, stereophotographic, 2000. Photograph, in Marcel Duchamp and the architecture of Desire, (Ashgate Publishing, 2013)
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Repeating forms
Following the Gardiner report in 1975, it was shown that the existing cage style camps were not fit for the prison population and a new prison building programme was required urgently8. This was done with 8 H Blocks, each one was set inside its own wire fence, each one of those was set within a concrete wall which separated out the different phases. These were then placed inside an internal perimeter wall, and then an external perimeter wall with an inertia zone placed between them. This repetition of concrete walls and wire fences carried on into the design of the structures. Repetition of key forms such as windows in the cells and a series of pre-cast elements created an architecture of oppression9. The architecture was dehumanising and the amount of wire enclosing all areas of the prison cast it through a grey gaze10. For this reason I have chosen to use the dimensions of the window slits as the basis for the
narratives to be placed within for my devices. The windows acted as a plane in which the gaze of the prisoner was placed upon and an expression of their desire as the only view from the cell. Five slits occupied each cell, my intention was to recreate this using five devices each with a separate narrative however this was not managed due to the interruptions following COVID-19.
8 Louise Purbrick, ‘The Architecture of Containment’, in Maze, by Donovan Wylie (Steidl, 2004), p. 4. 9 Purbrick, ‘The Architecture of Containment’, p. 4. 10 Louise Purbrick, A Museum at Long Kesh or the Maze (Lisburn: Coste na n-larchimi, 2003), pp. 10–11.
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A series of Photos showing the repeating forms of the cells and the five windows as the only point of contact with the outside world 2002 (Copyright Donovan Wylie/Magnum Photos).
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Recording of Northern Ireland
Strip of film taken looking at The Maze prison through the pinhole camera
Left - Pinhole camera which can hold a role of film to enable multiple photographs to be taken
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Right - Pinhole camera lens which can change the aperture and add multiple pinholes
Experimenting with methods of recording my visit to Northern Ireland were to continue to play with this ‘inertia zone’, using Marcel Duchamp’s incorporation of the term ‘blossoming’, I have been able to record the ‘inertia zone’ of information which has been distorted between two views captured onto a single image11. This was done through two methods, a pinhole camera with two holes acting as the camera obscuras. I also developed a lens to attach to my DSLR camera with a similar effect, these two techniques led to a series of explorations where images were merged and overlapped to record certain
experiences and connections of Belfast, the Maze and South Armagh. Barthes suggested that the medium of photography freezes a subject in time, Donovan Wylie moves past this freeze in time by photographing the prison across six years to create an accumulation of decay and a respect to Marcel Duchamp’s fourth dimension12.
11 Penelope Haralambidou, Marcel Duchamp and the Architecture of Desire (Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2013), p. 58. 12 Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida (Vintage Books, 1981), p. 115.
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Various lens to attach to my DSLR camera, in order to record Northern Ireland
Monocular vision experimenting with anamorphosis when viewing through it
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Series of experiments with the lenses, changing the size, number and distance between the pinholes
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0.5-1-NA
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Photograph taken with a double pinhole lens attached to DSLR camera of the hills in South Armagh
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Photograph taken with a double pinhole lens attached to DSLR camera of the street between the jail and courthouse in Belfast
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Approach to the site
Mapping: visit to The Maze / Long Kesh 1. Walking through the town of Hillsborough on Lisburn Street 2. View overlooking the M1 leading back to Belfast 3. Gate 1, currently the entrance to the exhibition centre which occupies some of the site 4. View through the housing estate Coronation Gardens 5. Walking along Half Town road we stumbled upon our first glimpses of the remaining prison structures through Gate 2 6. View of the WWII aircraft hangars sitting to the North of the prison 7. Gaze across at tower G4 from Maze FC playing fields 8. An opening between two houses on Kesh road allowed for a partial view over the prison 9. A friendly neighbour allowed us into a field behind his house which gave us a better view of the remaining prison wall and watchtowers
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The view over The Maze / Long Kesh prison from point nine during my visit to Northern Ireland, using my pin hole camera lense
During my visit to Northern Ireland I attempted to get a look at the prison, it was quite a strange scenario, I knew beforehand that due to Stormont parliament being closed that they would not allow visitors inside the prison. However, I thought I should try my luck as well as looking at the surrounding area.
the remaining prison structures were visible, only the show ground facilities emerged from this strange intermediate space. We carried on our journey where gate two presented the first view of the prison walls and watch towers, however only from a distance, highlighting the sheer area of land which the prison covered. It was quite a strange part of Northern Ireland, Me and another student got a bus which took steeped in history but with development plans us from Belfast to the village of Hillsborough, being pulled following its closure, it has begun which was an hour walk from The Maze / Long seemingly blending into its own landscape. Kesh, it was clearly a predominantly Loyalist Marion Shoard used the term ‘edgeland’ to area with various Union flags flying out of describe such an abandoned or ignored space windows or atop flag posts. We wandered between the edges of society13. down Half Town road where we first stumbled on glimpses of the prison. However, none of 13 Michael Fiddler, ‘“When the Prison No Longer Stands There”: Donovan Wylie’s Photographic Project,
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The merging of three photos, Belfast, The Maze / Long Kesh prison, and County Armagh
“Edgelands ruins contain a collage of time built-up in layers of mould and pigeon shit, in the way a groundsel rises through a crack in a concrete floor open to the elements. They turn space inside out, in the way nature makes itself at home indoors...”14
“The Maze”’, Prison Service Journal, 199 (2012), 50–53 (p. 50). 14 Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts, Edgelands: Journeys into England’s True Wilderness (London, 2011), p. 152.
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Acting as a fringe to what has been and what landscape, so my approach splits this exterior will come. “[t]o walk in edgelands ruins is to wall zone and the vast expanse in the middle. feel absence and presence at the same time”15. The Maze / Long Kesh is such a place, as it goes through a changing state of being in and out of society. It has become a uncanny landscape where the contest over its memory has fractured its future. It thus seemed appropriate for me to treat it as such, an inbetween uncanny place which you stumble upon, an edgeland which remains as both of a sense of absence and presence, between what has been and what will come. Looking at the Irish roots to the names ‘Long Kesh’ and ‘The Maze’, ‘Long Kesh’ is derived from ‘Long ditch’, ‘The Maze’ comes from ‘the plain’16. This again informed my approach to the site, for me when looking at the prison from my journey around its surroundings, the exterior concrete walls acted as 17ft cuts through the 15 Farley and Roberts, p. 154. 16 Fiddler, p. 50.
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Drawing of merged photographs distorting the memories of Northern Ireland and what forms heritage
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Drawing of merged photographs distorting the memories of Northern Ireland and what forms heritage
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‘Inertia Zone’
A series of Photos of the ‘inertia zone’ 2002 (Copyright Donovan Wylie/Magnum Photos).
The ‘inertia zone’ is the space between the outer prison wall which was controlled by the army and the internal perimeter wall is controlled by the prison officers. I have found that this zone between acts as a reflection of the conflict, what happened within the prison was reflected out to the rest of the country. It is this zone which I wish to build into. It is 15ft wide void and the section which acted as the perimeter for the H-blocks was split into 36 different stages for ease of communication if there were problems at any specific point. The ‘inertia zone’ used movement detectors to stop any escapes as well as a concrete path which guards used to check for dips in the ground which would suggest tunnelling 17 Donovan Wylie, Maze (Steidl, 2004).
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beneath the soil17. This became a symbolic void on the site which was neither contained or free, teetering between the exterior conflict and the various struggles within the prison.
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Phase 02 - the reconstruction of the cell using multiple narratives
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Reflection of my embodiment in the narratives
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Left - a view of the cell in which I was creating within the studio and the occupation of the narratives within this cell
Before self-isolation I intended to recreate the cell through an installation orientated final output which would situate the narratives in their various locations on the site. The H-block cell was 2750mm x 2250mm in floor area and it was through this in which I was hoping to embody the narratives through a series of interactable framing devices.
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Each of the frames were placed as projections above the point in the prison where they originated from. The view through them also reflected the orientation of the view within the narrative, the aperture of the view is the same as through one side of the frame.
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A palimpsest exposing the layers of the site’s Allowing ‘the plain’ furthermore to reclaim conflicted history has been compressed into itself where “overspill housing estates break the intersection where the narratives relative into scrubland”18 view meets the ‘inertia zone’. It is in the ‘inertia zone’ where the architecture formed from the narratives will manifest themselves. The compressed palimpsest will form part of the architecture on the datum line of 5200mm, the height of the perimeter wall. Part of the section through this inertia zone is defined by the outline from an overlay of the pinhole images of Northern Ireland being redistributed into it.
18 Farley and Roberts, p. 5.
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Another positioning manoeuvre for the site was to use the locations of rubble piles following the prisons demolition to place structures within the plain. The rubble was saved for future construction on the site and currently is a symbolic reminder of the lack of proposal for the future of the prison landscape. The longer time goes on, the more these piles of rubble will be reclaimed by weeds and become part of this edgeland state which the prison currently occupies.
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Right - a view of the cell in which I was creating within the studio and the occupation of the narratives within this cell
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Datum 01 0000mm - ground level 48
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Datum 02 5200mm - height of the perimeter wall 50
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Phase 03 - the redistribution of the cell into the flat
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Introspection in Isolation
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Left - An aeriel view of my new working position within the flat
The initial route of my work became disrupted as COVID-19 took over and brought in its own altered reality and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;work from homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was now enforced across the land. It presented itself through many challenges to the cohort in all studios at the university. As it began to derail my own thesis proposal it also allowed for a different direction for me and a new embodiment of the narratives in which the devices frame. With this was an introspective of my own processes and the systems which constrain my mode of architectural production. This altered course formed a framing device within which my architecture was being produced, as well as highlighting some of the comparisons with my own sense of containment and that of the
prison and more general life living through the troubles. As well as the comparisons drawn from the current situation, there were also many differences which were exaggerated through the interactions I had in my day to day connection with the frames which now occupied my flat in Heaton.
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At this point a redistribution of the devices occurred, the narratives informed new positions of the devices in the flat. It became a strange new relative position for me with these frames which now interrupted various aspects of my home experience during lockdown through their locations. There was no escape from these devices in lockdown and thus their positioning in each room and the function of these rooms was an important part of how each of the narratives were viewed. Reading the device in these new locations also changed the perspective of the narratives where the spectator was further placed within the context of the prison even though the frames had been redistributed from the cell. 56
Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 4
Right - A series of photos showing the distribution of the frames around my flat in Newcastle, the position of the frames relate to the narratives they represent
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During isolation it was difficult to take a step away from work as university studies began to merge with homelife. One of the steps to remove myself from this work distorted balance was to encounter some redecorating of the flat, this became another lense at which to view my project, slightly removed yet also acting as a datum for my relation to materiality. As the frames engaged more with the orientation of the furniture and a interelation with my surrounding fabric and the devices projection onto it, there became a need for work which was undertaken to reach an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;endâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; point, and it was during this that the thesis intertwined with redecoration. Redecoration became an obscuring lens over this thesis, yet also furthered the connection 58
with The Maze / Long Kesh site and a similar absurdity to the projection onto such a distorted landscape.
A series of textures from around my flat which are a result of both my working environment and also the points of redecorating which occurred during lockdown in an attempt to take breaks from work
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A diagram desribing the unfolding from the studio cell to the constraints of the flat which have been created by isolation
This diagram describes the unfolding of these new locations from the original cell which I placed in the position in which most of my work was produced from. A photomontage using a sequence of aeriel views around the flat is used as part of this unfolding.
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A diagram showing the new locations of the devices from the cell, the location of my new workspace
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Phase 04 - the projection of the narratives onto the liminal zone
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Device 01 - Narrative of Bobby Sands
The location of the Bobby Sandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative is his cell in H - Block 5, it was here where the window was his view to the outside world and he wrote of this view throughout his imprisonment.
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Left - A diagram of the first device in which the narrative of Bobby Sands is contained
Right - A photo showing the position of the spectator in relation to the device
Over the 29 year period of the prison it was involved in various events, the most notable were the hunger strikes where 10 people died to gain political status of prisoner in 1981. Of these 10, the leader was Bobby Sands who was elected MP during the time he was on the strike.
device. For Bobby Sands, the window of his cell formed a territory of his connection with the world, projecting back upon him, but it also contained his desire to be free and was used as a metaphor throughout his writings19. The windows in the H Block cell became an integral association with life outside of the prison for the inmates. It was not just the He was the first narrative I introduced to my external elements projecting themselves back project, I looked at The Writings of Bobby into the cell through the window, but also Sands, which was published by Sinn Fein Sands writes about the intimidation of the containing the writings he produced during guard looking through the opening in his his imprisonment. It was these writings which door, constantly watching his movements. led to the use of the frame to create a territory containing the narrative in a window sized 19
Sands, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Window of My Mindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, pp. 13â&#x20AC;&#x201C;14.
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Above - Device 01 in elevation, showing the interralation between the Prison Officer and Bobby Sands
Left - The projection of the frame onto the wooden plane of Bobby Sands relative position to the window
Michel Foucault describes the effect of the Panopticon “to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.”20 The sounds of the guards footsteps induced what Gombrich termed the ‘‘specious present’ where the short-term future is projected into the present as a reoccurring nightmare21. In Sands’ case, the sound of the footsteps invokes the memories of the guard opening his cell or watching over him through the openings
in the door and the possible beatings which followed22. He talked about the birds which lay outside his window where, starlings, sparrows and seagulls acted as metaphorical comparisons with the society in which he was trying to get back to. He also discusses the temporary release of prison brutality in the chapel and during visits.
20 Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. by Alan Sheridan (London: Penguin Books, 1977), p. 201. 21 Ernst Hans Gombrich, The Image & the Eye: Further Studies in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation (London: Phaidon Press, 1998), p. 48. 22 Bobby Sands, ‘I Am Sir, You Are 1066’, in The Writings of Bobby Sands (Dublin: Sinn Fein POW Department, 1981), pp. 27–29 (p. 29).
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The merging of the stereoscopic vision to create an image from the territory contained in the frame
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The subsequent translations from the image to create an architectural form
After creating the devices, the next step was a process of translation from the specific viewpoint of the device and a method of tracing and extruding the elements into an architectural form. Using Revit this was extruding into plan form. This process acted as a method of making an obscure translation into a passive architectural form which could be interpreted, contradicted and interacted with.
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The projection of Bobby Sandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; narrative onto the window
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The final drawing shows both the projection of architectural form from the device but also, using the image of the flat, highlights the impossiblility of proposing anything on such a potent and contested site. The projections almost become visual blocks and disturbances in the setting creating the discussion whether any form of proposal on the site can be achieved.
add the fourth dimension in a nonphysical interaction between spectator and device. The overlay of an alternate viewpoint is an attempt to engage with this and create simultaneity within the drawing. Finally, an image of some of the material relationship with the flat is placed above the drawing, reflecting on the fact that redecorating became an obstructive process when trying to work on the project.
The drawing consists of various layers from a photograph of the device in its location in the flat, as well as a 3D architectural form projecting from the device in the orientation of the view. A view relative to the position of the viewport in a modelled version of the flat is overlaid as well as a particular narrative which is made explicit through parts of the architectural form. The plans are then projected on the relative position to the modelled version of the flat. Through this digital view of the devices it is difficult to 79
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The projection of Bobby Sandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; narrative onto the wardrobe
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Device 02 - Narrative of the Mother
The location of the motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative is at the point of the where the visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s centre was located. It was this point where the mother would meet the son, and the prison life interacted with the life of those outside of this microcosm.
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Left - A diagram of the second device in which the narrative of the prisoner’s mother is contained
Right - Image of the relative position of the spectator to device 02
Device 02 was inspired by the film Some Mother’s Son which looked at the plight of a mother, who did not advocate for violence, see her son on the hunger strike and the battles she faced to save him. I created a territory through the meeting table in the visitor building on the prison, the point of intersection of the outside meeting the inside of the prison. communication would be passed out through this point, as well as smuggling of food and contraband into the prison. The device holds the story of a mother’s journey to and from the prison and the reflection which was made during the journey. This reflection is of the past but
discusses the impact her son’s decisions have had on her and her family’s life. The story was told on Long Kesh Inside Out and transitions between the mother’s journey to visit her son as well as her son’s journey and preparations to the visit23.
23 Compound, ‘The Visit: Primo | Longkesh Inside Out’ <http://www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk/?p=3260> [accessed 11 February 2020].
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The view of the table from both the visitor and the projection of the prisoner
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The engraved acrylic showing the transect of the motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey
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Left - The merging of the multiple projected views of the prisoner onto the motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative
Right - Subsequent translations of device 02 through various iterations to create an architectural form
Again, an iterative process of translation and reduction took place with device 02 which allowed for it to take a form. This was then used to create the plans in the inertia zones at the point where the narrativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s view meets it. The Maze / Long Kesh was thought of as architecture formed from extrusions, so using the translations in plan form meant I was able to carry on this language of extrusion, although in a more concentrated and intense positioning, creating a disruptive form.
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The projection of the motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative onto the television
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The projection of the motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative onto the sofa
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Device 03 - Narrative of the Prison Officer
The location of the prison officerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative is Silver city. Silver city is the accommodation for prison officers who originated from the England and Wales prison service who moved to help during the conflict. It also housed those who were being targeted by paramilitary forces in their own communities and required relocation to Silver city or Millisle borstal for their own safety. Silver city also had its own drinking establishment which also caused many problems as officers would use alcohol to get away from the distresses of the job24.
24 Tom Murtagh, The Maze Prison: A Hidden Story of Chaos, Anarchy and Politics (Waterside Press, 2018).
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Left - Image of the relative position of the spectator to device 03
Device 03 contains the narrative of the prison officer. It uses Tom Murtaghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book: The Maze Prison, A Hidden Story of Chaos, Anarchy and Politics. He describes a series of decisions at government level which were co-ordinated with the paramilitary factions that were detrimental to the running of the prison and ultimately led to the hostile atmosphere between the prisoners and the prison officers, where both sides became victims of the other. Tom Murtagh was one of the governors at the prison and recollects certain events and contradicting stories which were communicated outside of the prison for propaganda purposes. Its position within the flat was due to a story
of how officers would be beaten up so that a prisoner would be able to look at a view from the wardens office, an attempt to see the horizon and the outside world beyond the grey haze of the prison. It is therefore placed on the steps to the attic in the hallway.
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An image of device 03, and the distribution of pressure on the prison service throughout the troubles
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Image of device 03 showing the various inputs in how the prison service was run and the problems that this caused
He discusses through the years of the prisons existence various situations and decisions which undermined their ability to keep control in the prison whilst also being subject to immense danger and a series of false accusations by prisoners. Their varying levels of control are reflected year by year in the device as well as highlighting the communication between government figures and senior members of the various paramilitary factions which resulted in chaos throughout the prison, in which prison riots occurred on a regular basis.
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Left - The merging of the multiple inputs of the paramilitary factions onto the prison officerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative
Right - Subsequent translations of device 03 through various iterations to create an architectural form
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The projection of the prison officerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative onto the ceiling
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Device 04 - Narrative of the depressed prisoner
The location of the depressed prisonerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative was in compound 5, where in 1973 a prisoner named Paddy Joe Crawford was found hanging from a wall heater in the recreation hut after either committing suicide or was murdered by the PIRA. There has been dispute over the true cause of death as later writings suggest murder25. However, it describes the lack of interaction and ability for the prison service to look after the individual welfare of the prisoners in the cages before political status was ended.
25 Murtagh, pp. 126â&#x20AC;&#x201C;28.
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A diagram of the third device in which the narrative of the depressed prisoner is contained
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Image of the relative position of the spectator to device 04
Device 04 contains the narrative of the prisoners focusing on their depression. In the cages of the nissen huts, it was difficult for the prison officers to look after the individual welfare of their prisoners. This was largely to do with the hierarchy of each faction which prevented prisoners at the bottom of the pyramid to talk with prison officers unless it had been agreed by their leaders. I presented this disconnect using an annecdote of a prisoner describing how he could see the estate where he grew up in the reflection of the watchtower, and then created various barriers between the viewpoint and the gaurd sat behind this reflective glass. The device contains information again
obtained from Long Kesh Inside Out, where stories about running around the cage, listening to music and cleaning out your cell were just some of the ways of taking your mind off the problems and depression in the prison. For me its position in the backyard of the flat was a similar location to get away from the confinements of the flat, especially when the sun shone it gave a sense of normality in an un-normal situation.
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Left - An image from the viewpoint looking over the device and the narrative contained within
Right - The view back from the watchtower is obscured by what the prisoner can see in its reflection
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Left - The merging of the stereoscopic views from the point of the prisoner of the device
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Right - Subsequent translations of device 04 through various iterations to create an architectural form
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The projection of the depressed prisonerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative onto the fence in the backyard of the flat
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The projection of the depressed prisonerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative onto the wall in the backyard of the flat
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The view of the site from the position in which I was stood during my visit overlaid with the view of my flat from my workspace
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The near impossibility of a proposal became apparent through my delirious embodiment of the narratives within the flat. A project which was born out of the multi-perspectival points of view of the Maze / Long Kesh, it somehow inversed the perspective on my own processes and level of isolation and dislocation from the site through my somewhat removed position trying to produce architecture in a contained environment. The deviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s projection onto the walls of my flat obscuring any proposal for this conflicted landscape which may only be able to exist in representation.
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Projection of elevations as a datum on the walls on the flat
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Interupted projection not only my interaction with the narratives but also that of the person I live with
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Projection back into the cell of the house
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Newcastle University School of Architecture