Udaya Lakshmi;
Udaya Lakshmi, Georgia Institute of Technology;
Hugh Crawford, Georgia Institute of Technology
New Orleans 2019: Experiencing / listening
Neighborhood histories are communal memories. Spaces and structures in neighborhoods tell stories long after residents have moved on. This project asks how new residents encounter their neighborhood and attempts to stage encounters with the stories of such sites. We explore these questions with an installation in the community park in a neighborhood in transition. We craft bird houses to represent key buildings of historic relevance to the neighborhood while also serving the local ecology of birds in a neighborhood park. This installation is a representation of permanence in the face of migratory movements. Through the birdhouses, we animate stories from residents using different media interactions. Our installation brings together humanities, ecology, and STS scholars to create artifacts that reflect upon the shared memory of a neighborhood.