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Tonight on #RemembranceThreads I’ll take you for a quick spin about National level stuff in the UK.
Warning: this contains some theory and some opinion.
Stand back.
Warning: this contains some theory and some opinion.
Stand back.
The National level, here defined as the Government, Parliament, Executive and its Ministries play a key role in commemoration (the ceremonies, events) of remembrance.
They choose how big a role they attempt to set tone, governance control public money! So called ‘top down’.
They choose how big a role they attempt to set tone, governance control public money! So called ‘top down’.
The Government and Executive also choose who advises them, who they’re going to work with ‘agents’ and try and give governance to other bodies most notably local and community efforts.
The choices made here are CRITICAL in influencing production, style, iconography and venues.
The choices made here are CRITICAL in influencing production, style, iconography and venues.
This is nothing new and highlights the importance of these partners and agents.
I don’t agree with everything in the “Invention of Tradition” but it’s hard to imagine British ‘pomp’ without Viscount Esher or Edward Elgar.
What we can agree on (probably) is elites & arts.
I don’t agree with everything in the “Invention of Tradition” but it’s hard to imagine British ‘pomp’ without Viscount Esher or Edward Elgar.
What we can agree on (probably) is elites & arts.
The National level periodically plays a role in this reinvention by what it commissions and how much it spends.
This is normally conservative (with a small c) and as Gombrich notes deploys comforting and familiar forms . Think neo-classical Greek/Roman etc.
This is normally conservative (with a small c) and as Gombrich notes deploys comforting and familiar forms . Think neo-classical Greek/Roman etc.
Indeed without elites, the arts and new-classicism we wouldn’t have the Cenotaph and most of the forms deployed in the vast majority of our memorials and cemeteries.
All done on mates of mates of mates. But sometimes the outcome isn’t all that bad....
All done on mates of mates of mates. But sometimes the outcome isn’t all that bad....
BUT this is always subject to reaction, revision and reinterpretation.
Again this is often led by the practice of history and the arts - sometimes in conflict - sometimes in unison and that’s why this field is so AMAZING.
It’s all about the continuities a s divergence.
Again this is often led by the practice of history and the arts - sometimes in conflict - sometimes in unison and that’s why this field is so AMAZING.
It’s all about the continuities a s divergence.
Nora wrote of the constant tension between the accuracy of a ‘National memory’ but the sheer diffusion of memory. The two are in constant conflict and even whether you can have a ‘national memory’ especially in a Nation of nations like the UK is another HUGE debate....
This tension between history and memory plays out when the Executive tries to define what commemoration is for and what remembrance means.
TBF they have to try but as Gregory and Connelly and many others note multi-vocality is the norm but the tension between the two is the key.
TBF they have to try but as Gregory and Connelly and many others note multi-vocality is the norm but the tension between the two is the key.
The Olympics, Diamond Jubillee and Centenary are all interesting points of revision and reflection for the UK.
An intensely multi-cultural present attempting to connect with a more homogenous, problematic, Imperial past.
The arts played a key role in these areas (see my thesis)
An intensely multi-cultural present attempting to connect with a more homogenous, problematic, Imperial past.
The arts played a key role in these areas (see my thesis)
The death of Lady Diana (1997) “Wills and Kate” (2011) the duality of 2012 for me, was one of those ‘re-invention’ periods.
Lining streets, spontaneous shrines, the Cultural Olympiad, the festivals and Gary Barlow on the Mall brought a different mode of ‘Pomp’ and memory.
Lining streets, spontaneous shrines, the Cultural Olympiad, the festivals and Gary Barlow on the Mall brought a different mode of ‘Pomp’ and memory.
Moreover this period gave a ready made set of templates - and their associated delivery agents - to graft on to the Centenary that was left all rather too late, with too little planning and not much in the ideas bucket.
Trust me you can map a lot of people across to it.
Trust me you can map a lot of people across to it.
Debate about the #FWW Centenary has raged. Particularly the amount of money and what was produced by 14-18NOW.
Some wanted more research, more education, more explanation to young people in traditional ways.
Others argued 4 years was too much remembering, a never ending box set.
Some wanted more research, more education, more explanation to young people in traditional ways.
Others argued 4 years was too much remembering, a never ending box set.
These national efforts, I would argue, did give inspiration and impetus to local and community efforts.
Sometimes inspiring imitation, sometimes cementing established tropes, almost as a protest to ‘new’ commemoration.
Either way - isn’t this all healthy?
Sometimes inspiring imitation, sometimes cementing established tropes, almost as a protest to ‘new’ commemoration.
Either way - isn’t this all healthy?
Engagement is a strange thing.
We can’t deny the power of secrecy, FOMO and social media that boosted events like “We’re Here Because We’re Here” and “Blood Swept Sands and Seas of Red” or “Poppies at the Tower”.
They were sites of memory in the physical and digital world.
We can’t deny the power of secrecy, FOMO and social media that boosted events like “We’re Here Because We’re Here” and “Blood Swept Sands and Seas of Red” or “Poppies at the Tower”.
They were sites of memory in the physical and digital world.
@Jkwaldman told me “the magnificent thing about the arts is it allows people to engage in their own way on their own terms and discover or assign their own meaning.” Something historians can find hard to deal with - but it doesn’t make it untrue or any less valuable.
Arts installations that twinned with digital resources, through QR codes, casualty records, Lives of the First Works War etc grew the reach of @CWGC and @I_W_M and @IWM_Centenary enormously.
This has been trialled with ‘The Trench’ (2012 - again!) and emphasised participation.
This has been trialled with ‘The Trench’ (2012 - again!) and emphasised participation.
This methodology was a new way of experiencing, accessing and interpreting history, commemoration and remembrance all at the same time.
It also mainstreamed this approach as an expectation of experience in national and local heritage sites.
It also mainstreamed this approach as an expectation of experience in national and local heritage sites.
Before I write my whole thesis out here remember the National level ain’t all bad.
The contest and protest it sets up by leading and framing commemoration is intensely useful in sparking debate.
The reaction it can trigger to revise and re-examine is a key unintended consequence.
The contest and protest it sets up by leading and framing commemoration is intensely useful in sparking debate.
The reaction it can trigger to revise and re-examine is a key unintended consequence.
The tension between history and memory, historians and artists is central to commemoration and remembrance.
The relationship between ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ commemoration may be adversarial; that doesn’t make it wrong. One can be trying to erode and get the other to move.
The relationship between ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ commemoration may be adversarial; that doesn’t make it wrong. One can be trying to erode and get the other to move.
The key, as ever, is that we ask who is leading and defining this picture.
Who is present and absent.
Which voices, mediums and modes are dominating - and why?
Is it important t that ‘we’ remember ‘them’ recognising ‘we’ are not ‘them’.
It’s messy - that’s why we love it.
Who is present and absent.
Which voices, mediums and modes are dominating - and why?
Is it important t that ‘we’ remember ‘them’ recognising ‘we’ are not ‘them’.
It’s messy - that’s why we love it.
Tomorrow - I’ll discuss some local projects that migrated to national and some national projects that became regional - and try an unpack what that tells us about elites, money and commemoration culture.
