Harry's Bar ws report

REcall

harry’s bar workshop Venice 9-13 September 2012 edited by Toby Phips Lloyd, Claudia Toscano, Mads Harder Daniel

Harry’s bar

REcall Docs

REcall is a research project founded by EC Culture 2007-13 Programme (n. 2012 - 0927 / 001 - 001 CU7 COOP7) focused on the possible roles Museography can play when dealing with Difficult Heritage such as the ones coming from conflicts and wars. REcall wishes to envision new ways to the handling of Painful Places & Stories going behind any traditional approach: there is the need to shift from the ‘simply’ commemoration attitude to a more active involvement and participation of people in/with Places & Stories, through design strategies of ‘reappropriation’ (www.recall-project.polimi.it).

The views expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

REcall Consortium POLIMI-Politecnico di Milano - Coordinator - (Italy) AAU-Aalborg University (Denmark) NTUN-Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway) UNEW-Newcastle University (United Kingdom) Fasltad Museum, Falstad (Norway) Museo della Resistenza, Turin (Italy) Associated Partners Ergan Foundation Romsdal museet Routes Agency Snark Issued in November 2012 under Creative Commons: license CC BY SA 3.0

Harry’s Bar

edited by Gaia Pigozzi, Arve Eiken Nytun, Elias Melvin Christiansen

REcall Docs

Harry’s bar

THE STORY

Harry’s Bar was opened in 1931 by Giuseppe Cipriani with help from the American Harry Pickering. The tales goes that Cipriani loaned Pickering 10.000 lire and in return he gave Cipriani 50.000 lire 2 years later with the words: “Here’s the money. And to show you my appreciation, here’s 40.000 more, enough to open a bar. We will call it Harry’s Bar.” The bar had from the beginning an American identity, and many celebrities visited the bar where several trademark dishes and drinks were invented. The international orientation coursed the Cipriani family severe trouble during the fascist rule in Italy, where the name of the bar was changed to Bar Arrigo.

Provided material: http://www.recall-project.polimi.it/wp-content/ uploads/Harrys-Bar.zip

ATMOSPHERE

When visiting Harry’s Bar we found that it is place of unique identity.

The atmosphere of the space rises from several ingredients: The interior, the furniture, the persons who work there, the customers and not at least the famous menu of trademark dishes and drinks.

We also however found that not only the physical ingredients in play affected the atmosphere. The stories and anecdotes connected to all of the sensed aspects contributed just as much. In the bar exists an interaction between physical and metaphysical elements that together in a lively interplay bring out the memories and the identify of Harry’s Bar.

METHODOLOGY

The goal of project was to use memories from the Second World War period in Harry’s Bar to tell the wider story of the bar: Seeking a more nuanced understanding of Harry’s Bar by bringing different memories together in a dialogue – a reappropriation though mnemonic reuse.

By juxtaposing the known stories of Harry’s Bar, i.e the stories of the celebrities, famous dishes and drinks , with the forgotten and difficult stories of the period of the Second Worlds War, the projects aims at interaction of pleasant and painful memories that could illuminate the current qualities and identity of Harry’s Bar.

PRODUCT

Seeking to reach beyond the metaphysical nature of memories and to reach a mean of communication of physical nature the project applies the use of an already existing element in the bar: The printed daily menu. By simultaneously compiling and opposing memories of pleasant and difficult heritage the menus seek to bring out the story of Harry’s Bar as a whole.

The juxtaposing is enhanced by utilising the international language of Harry’s bar with the Italian language preferred by Fascism. Besides the conceptual reasons for the bi-linguistic layout the menus also seek the incitement of dialogue beyond barriers as conversation and a common understanding is sought.

See the presentation: http://issuu.com/recall-project/docs/harrys_ bar/1?mode=embed&viewMode=magazine

Menu 01, Italian version

Menu 01, English version

Menu 02, Italian version

Menu 02, English version

Menu 03, Italian version

Menu 03, English version

REcall docs – harry’s bar Published by Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Progettazione dell’Architettura © May 2013, The Authors

harry’s bar REcall is a research project founded by EC Culture 2007-13 Programme focused on the possible roles Museography can play when dealing with Difficult Heritage such as the ones coming from conflicts and wars. REcall wishes to envision new ways to the handling of Painful Places & Stories going behind any traditional approach: there is the need to shift from the ‘simply’ commemoration attitude to a more active involvement and participation of people in/with Places & Stories, through design strategies of ‘reappropriation’ (www.recall-project.polimi.it). editors Toby Phips Lloyd’s practice examines interpretations of the self and the relationship it has with the surrounding environment.His work has been described as masochistic and ‘banal in the best possible sense of the word,’ as he takes the everyday action or object and pushes it into the absurd.

Claudia Toscano is an architecture student at Politecnico di Milano and also works there as a technician in Laboratory Models and Prototypes.

Mads Harder Daniel’s early years of studying architecture have moved towards an understanding of architecture as an in-between condition. When studying architectural engineering, the consciousness of moving between the quantitative values of natural science and the qualitative values of art is a fundamental capacity.

REcall is a research project funded by EC Cluture 2007-13 Programme (n. 2012 - 0927 / 001 - 001 CU7 COOP7)

REcall