A history of the «Quartier Italie» in Dudelange, Luxembourg
The microcosm of the quartier «Italie» stands as a mirror of the global history of Dudelange, even of Luxembourg and Europe. Moving Lusitalia is a physical and digital project based on stories of everyday life, revealing the changes in rhythm, time and space over the decades. A two-year project leading to a multimedia exhibition, a series of conferences and a permanent audiovisual journey (web app) that let people explore the Quartier, discovering meaningful places and their stories.
Local
Luxembourg
City of Dudelange, Luxembourg
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
Creative Europe
(ECoC) European Capital of Culture 2022 - Esch (Luxembourg)
No
Yes
2022-11-08
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): Tokonoma Type of organisation: Group of multimedia artists First name of representative: Chiara Last name of representative: Ligi Gender: Female Nationality: Italy Function: Multimedia artist Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Cicco Simonetta, 17 Town: Milan Postal code: 20123 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 338 356 3651 E-mail:contact@tokonoma.studio Website:https://tokonoma.studio/
Moving Lusitalia is a physical and digital project based on stories of everyday life of the «Quartier Italie» in Dudelange, Luxembourg. The neighbourhood, originally established with the nearby steel industry, underwent remarkable changes, from significant migration waves to the depopulation during the steel sector crisis of the 80s until the current redevelopment of the area.
The quartier «Italie», a microcosm with movements of migrants mirroring not only geographical but also social mobilities, reflects the history of Dudelange and represents a poignant testimony to the history of migration in the Grand Duchy.
In 2021, the Centre de Documentation sur les Migrations Humaines (CDMH) launched a two-year project to identify, record, and showcase the life stories, memories, and objects of current and former residents of the "Italie" neighbourhood with the goal of revealing the changes in rhythm, time, and space within the district over the decades.
In collaboration with multimedia artists, designers, the city council and the University, the project evolved, leading to a series of conferences, an exhibition (25 April - 31 December 2022), and a permanent audiovisual journey to be experienced through the streets of the neighbourhood (launched in November 2022) retracing that same multivocal and polyphonic history.
The exhibition, installed at the Gare-Usines, the CDMH headquarters, was organised in “chantiers thématiques” built around “speaking objects”, reflecting on broader themes through personal stories, real objects and a stratified soundscape.
On the other hand, the permanent audiovisual journey (www.movinglusitalia.org) gives a chance to explore the Quartier and discover stories animating and defining places, evoking daily practices and rhythms. By opening "windows on the past” through voices, images, stories and sound composition, persons, as modern time-travellers, can live an immersive and unique experience.
Migration
DailyLife
Memories
Places
Rhythms
We approached the complex issue of sustainability from different points of view.
We adopted a participative approach by directly involving the former and current inhabitants of the Quartier in the research and creation of the exhibition and web app contents, resulting in a strong relationship between people and the local institution (CDMH).
With its migratory past and present and peculiar architectural characteristics (small houses piled on each other, poor living conditions, overcrowded past), the neighbourhood has always suffered from a bad reputation. Thus, beyond enhancing the local community's sense of belonging by valorising places and resources (material and immaterial), one of the project's key objectives was to try to widely trigger the processes of change in the perception of the neighbourhood at a broader level. By making those resources accessible, organised in an exhibition and a long-lasting and free immersive experience can make it possible for “outsiders” and new generations to engage emotionally with places and former and present inhabitants.
Following the idea of sustainability over time, among various possibilities, we chose to realise a Web App accessible via QR codes, easy to update and implement. The future expandability was a key factor in its design: we developed it with the intention of hosting further multimedia contents and the possibility of making it available in different languages with a commitment of minimal economic and material resources.
The idea of circularity mainly guided the design sustainability through the choice of reusable and/or recyclable materials (e.g. building of wooden structures as exhibition displays; graphics printings on recyclable PVC; reusing of plexiglass showcases from previous exhibitions; rental of new technologies; etc).
Moving Lusitalia was conceived as a multilayered and disseminated project with two different access points: from objects to themes (Exhibition) and from places to stories (Web App), with the main aim of engaging local and foreign public into a highly emotional experience that triggered the process of identification of the local community, enhancing their sense of belonging towards the(ir) place, the(ir) past, the(ir) story and the History of the Quartier.
The audiovisual exhibition consists of “speaking objects” related to daily life in the Quartier, enhanced by an immersive diffused soundscape, audio stories, video-interviews and visual material (old printed photos, archival daily-life objects). The aesthetics of the exhibition was guided by the idea of modularity and colourful graphics, aiming not only at transforming the perception of the space by building interesting views, but also engaging younger people through a more fresh gaze. Hosted inside the spaces of the Gare-Usines, the themes of the exhibition were then “spilled over” to the outside through an audiovisual journey to be experienced around the Quartier through a WebApp.
Based on storytelling, hundreds of photos from different periods and sounds, the Web App allows a free and multi-path/thematic exploration of the surroundings through a geo-localization system based on QR codes. It offers the possibility to enjoy audio/video content and graphics while walking through the streets, as in a contemporary and playful “flânerie” between past and present. Moreover, the binaural soundscape built around the audio stories allows 'modern travellers' to fully immerse themselves in unpredictable spaces and times.
The quality of this participatory project brought cultural benefits in terms of an increase discussions within the cultural, historical and memorial institutions about public participation, sharing authority and about the ethics of participation in memorial institutions practices.
The Moving Lusitalia project was conceived and designed to be socially inclusive, affordable and sustainable. The participatory approach was a key-feature of our project, engaging both people and local associations. It started from building relationships and engaging with individuals from all social, economic and migratory backgrounds, all ages and different places (currently living in Luxembourg but also in Italy and Portugal) inviting them to co-create and participate in the project. At the same time, the associations representing past and actual communities living in the quartier were also included by means of interviews and sharing archives (photos, documents, etc.) and objects. Aside from the individuals and associations, inclusiveness was also a key aspect of the implementation of Moving Lusitalia. Firstly, all activities were open and free (interviews, conferences, visiting the exhibition, walking-tours, etc.). Secondly, the WebApp is easily accessible from any personal device (smartphone, tablet, etc.); it doesn't require any download; it includes different types of content (audio, visual and textual), so that people with disabilities can choose the way to immerse in the story of the “Quartier Italie”. Moreover, the stories of everyday life are easily understandable and affordable by people with different cultural backgrounds; content is multilingual (all audio content transcribed and translated in local language). For people who don’t have personal devices or are “tech illiterate” the CDMH offers the possibility to have guided tours and/or lend a device. For those who don’t want or cannot move, the content of the WebApp is easily accessible from the website version (movinglusitalia.org).
Beyond preserving the content (otherwise “lost”) of the physical exhibition, the WebApp allows all of the content (audio, video, text, translations, etc.) to be updated and implemented over time.
The inhabitants of "Italie" and Dudelange took from the beginning to take an active part in the entire process of Moving Lusitalia. After the first period of field research connecting with former and current inhabitants, we organized meetings, and Call to action to collect stories. Previous and present inhabitants of «Italie» had the chance to narrate their experiences influencing, therefore, the definition of themes tackled by the project and modifying its first conception and design. Due to the increased project participation, people started bringing personal belongings to the CDMH and with a Call for objects their personal pictures and objects were displayed inside the exhibition.
Many of the people and folkloric associations involved not only contributed to the co-construction of the Moving Lusitalia project but also got so close to the institution (CDMH) to voluntarily take care of specific contents or activities (i.e. the sorting of all the buildings of the Quartier, their owners/tenants, their history and the architectural modifications) or to donate objects and photos for the archive. A series of round tables, meetings and public conferences engage a wider public with the project.
All the events, the opening of the Exhibition, the launch of the Web App and the numerous conferences also became a ground for participants to collaborate according to their capabilities and willingness (organisation, staff activities, “Cicerones”, photo-documentation, radio-speaking), gaining a prominent role in the project. Beyond that, the resonance of the project impacted the local community’s visibility (thanks to the participation of prominent figures in the political and scientific field) and economy, could the cafés, the restaurants and other commercial activities benefit from the presence of new public.
Speaking of society benefits, an “intergenerational space” for dialogue, comprehension and cohesion was created through this project, enhancing a sense of belonging.
Many stakeholders were engaged in the Moving Lusitalia project at different stages. Among all:
the Centre de Documentation sur le Migraciones Humaines (CDMH), promoter and curator of the project, it played a key role in the general conception and the entire process by giving an academic (sociological and historical) and practical contribution (field research, hosting the exhibition and national and international conferences); the Centre made also available its archive material (photos, books, objects, sculptures, audio stories, etc) and archived all the new collected materials;
the Ville de Dudelange was not only one of the main funders of the project but also a primary source for visual materials (Archives de la Ville de Dudelange); it also made available its technicians to help with the installation of both the exhibition and the communication apparatus;
the previous and current inhabitants of the Quartier and the numerous associations orbiting around the neighbourhood (i.e. «Amitiés Portugal-Luxembourg», «As Camélias», «Juventude Portuguesa de Dudelange»,«Saudades Lusitanas», Projet Ensemble) were primary sources for collecting stories and objects;
the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) - University of Luxembourg contributed both economically and practically: funding the WebApp and handling the communication and launch;
Esch2022 - European Capital of Culture asbl was among the main funders of the project;
Tokonoma - a collective of multimedia artists and designers based in Milan, in collaboration with the CDMH, dealt with the conception, design, development and realisation of the project and all of the content (multimedia exhibition and the web app);
2F Architettura, an architecture studio based in Milan, contributed to the design of the exhibition space and displays;
Giga Design Studio, a design agency based in Milan, contributed to the design and development of the web app.
Four are the main disciplines that give a scientific and humanistic frame to the Moving Lusitalia project: History, Museology, Anthropology/Ethnography and Multimedia Art and Design.
The wide Migration theme sinks its roots in the global history field, but relying on micro-historical research and methods the idea of the project has been to explore it from a micro-historical perspective in an attempt to build a more general, shared, even critical view, starting from the voices and experiences of the former and current inhabitants of the Quartier. To this regard, the process of “memorialisation” - prerogative of museums and cultural institution as the CDMH - has been addressed here through a co-participatory and co-constructive approach in order to shed light on a polyphonic, multi-vocal story, even more relevant for a context like Luxembourg.
Moreover, in this specific context, sociology of migration and transnationalism allowed the project to be framed within a research strand that avoids the “national methodology” in favour of a redefinition of the notion of “borders” that takes into account the "simultaneity" of experience in the lives of migrants, leading the design process to reflect on the concepts of time and space (according to Lefebvre's theories) and to apply a multi-sited ethnographic approach, meaning also as “participant observation”.
Finally, the theories and principles underpinning the discipline of multimedia arts and design have laid the foundations for the creation of immersive and interactive “places” capable of creating a space-time journey within the multiplicity of fragments and personal perspectives that combine to generate the complex identity of the “microcosm Italie”.
RESULTS: 70 audio and video realised interviews; 29 interviews used to build the audio and audiovisual narrative of the Exhibition and the Web App. EXHIBITION: 7 “chantiers thématiques” with 7 audio and audiovisual stories (120 minutes); more than 50 objects/photos donated by the participants, of which 19 selected to be displayed; WEB APP: 18 tags; 27 places; 81 audio stories (3:58 hours of listening available for free on mobile and desktop devices); hundreds of photos. CONFERENCES: participation/organisation of 11 conferences in 2021 and 2022; COLLATERAL EVENTS: many activities, such as community meetings and round-tables, attended by a large group of the local community. All the activities orbiting around the Moving Lusitalia project (Exhibition, WebApp, conferences, round-tables, community meetings) undoubtedly enhanced the sense of belonging of the local people who actively participated in the co-construction of the project.
OUTCOMES: due to the increased sense of belonging of the community, the CDMH could benefit from the contribution of the local population in terms of visits and contacts and increasing its archive and database of further objects, pictures and stories; the local population could benefit in terms of cohesion, but also in terms of national and international visibility (participation of Royals, national and international ambassadors, ministers, political institutions, etc.) as well as in economic terms (all the collateral events involved many local commercial activities). The success of this project led also to an increasing demand for new local projects.
IMPACTS: the sense of place raised by the project is leading the Municipality of Dudelange to plan changes in the configuration of the city; the intergenerational dynamics proposed in the WebApp allows the youngest generations to engage with the place they live and to actively participate to the building of their future.
The innovative character of the project is threefold:
1) The new way space and places were approached through a “rhythmanalysis” and relying on the living experiences of people and their interrelations made it possible to go beyond the classical “nationally bounded” approaches, getting to avoid the “methodological nationalism” and redefine the notions of “borders” in the frame of a transnational approach. This led us to deeply grasp the migrant experiences as “experiences of simultaneity”.
2) The participatory “bottom-up” character of the project in the first phases, from the research to the conception, allowed for a deep engagement of people from the local community, leading to the co-construction and definition of themes, places and stories that were developed later. Additionally, the collection of personal stories and experiences coming out from this participatory process made both the interviewees and the visitors/users of the exhibition and the web app feel closer and more cohesive: only by listening to the stories of others can one hear one's own story resonate.
3) The innovative use of technology, multimedia, interactivity and the micro-history approach enhanced people’s sense of belonging and triggered the change, but also helped to approach complex themes such as migrations, discrimination, gender issues in more affordable ways.
Especially, the use of binaural compositions of sounds and music arranged and mixed ad hoc using a particular audio spatialisation technique (HRTF) allowed to design a highly immersive, lively listening experience.
The articulation of these three innovative approaches made the project go beyond what has until now been done in the field of Migration studies, creating an invaluable archive for future generations that can remind of our shared humanity, strengthen and build connections between people, teach the value of listening and, finally, weave into the fabric of our culture the importance of everyone’s story.
By adopting a spatially-defined unit of analysis instead of ethno-national categories such as “immigrants”, the Moving Lusitalia project makes visible social dynamics and complexities otherwise obscured by the ethnicity bias and the methodological nationalism (Levitt & Glick-Schiller, 2004; Dahinden, 2012). By means of a multidisciplinary approach we carried out a “rhythmanalysis” (Lefebvre, 1992) of the Quartier, thinking space and time together.
METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK: Global micro-history approach (Ginzburg, 2019 [1976]; Revel, 1996; Bertrand & Calafat, 2021) that creates a dialogue between a micro-analytic approach and a history thought on a large scale; Grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 2010 [1967]; Strauss & Corbin, 2003) in which concepts-categories-theories emerge from the data, prioritising the field, by the application of inductive reasoning; Multi-sited ethnography (Falzon, 2009; Marcus, 1995), following ideas or people around a multitude of places (interviews conducted in Luxembourg, Portugal and Italy); 4) Participatory Museum (Simon, 2010) and “museum without walls”: by working with community members and visitors we designed and implemented a multivocal and polyphonic project, making our cultural institution more dynamic, relevant, and essential.
APPLIED METHODS: participative events to involve members of the local community and collect personal photos, documents, objects; “comprehensive interviews” (Kaufmann, 2016 [1996]; Ramos, 2015) and walking interviews/go-along method (Kusenbach, 2003) to collect personal stories; archival research; multimedia approach to the design, development and realisation of the exhibition and the web app, particularly focussed on the use of sound and music (binaural audio technique) as the main medium to create immersive experiences and engage people through senses, strengthening their connection with stories, places and times.
The Moving Lusitalia project was conceived to be easily scaled up and replicated in other contexts, from local to regional ones. Specifically:
TECHNOLOGY: the Moving Lusitalia Web App allows for a potential infinitive implementation; it is not only scalable in terms of content (from micro - quartier - to macro - city and region) and languages, but it can also be applied as it is, just changing domain, to other similar realities (other neighbourhoods, small towns in the French-Luxembourgish Minett region) by keeping the same themes and the same backend and frontend structure;
METHODOLOGY: the methods applied to the project, namely: the micro-history and multidisciplinary approaches, the participative methods aimed not only to “produce” contents but also to lead to participatory actions and researches, the“comprehensive” and “walking” interviews to collect personal stories and objects, the multimedia approach to design, develop and realise immersive and engaging “phygital” places, can also be easily replicated in other places, but also be adopted by other beneficiaries and in further contexts.
PROCESSES: the same process - from knocking on doors, to organising meetings, to conducting interviews, to involving people in the search for objects, stories, experiences, people, up to sharing the results - can be easily applied wherever there is the need for the valorisation of places and resources, both material and immaterial.
To conclude, the same project can be easily transferred to other contexts maintaining the same method and process with minimal adjustments on the product/webapp (i.e. graphics), but with a necessary modification in terms of themes that will have to be identified with the local communities to adhere to the genius loci of the new context.
Among the global challenges addressed by the Moving Lusitalia Project:
5. GENDER EQUALITY: as industrial history is often written from a male-centred perspective, Moving Lusitalia counter-balanced this issue by giving space to both women and men’s perspectives. Until the 1960s, in the Quartier Italie women were a minority as a result of a migration programme that was favourable to the movement of single men. In the 1970s, with the arrival of the more family-oriented Portuguese immigrants, the situation changed. By shedding light on the critical and fundamental role women played in economic, social and community fields during the 20th century, the project recognizes and values women’s formal or informal labour and the ways they found out of the oppressive men’s control.
10. REDUCE INEQUALITY: Recalling the previous goal, the project tackles the living and work conditions of migrants, both men and women, during the Luxembourgish industrialization and post-industrialization period trying to raise awareness on inequalities and fostering the discussion about possible ways to improving standards of living for all people and promoting more inclusive and sustainable living policies.
11. SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES: The participative approach to the project and the sharing of personal life experiences aimed and aims at strengthening the social cohesion, the sense of belonging to their living place and the respect for diversity in the perspective of influencing policy makers towards more inclusive, participatory and sustainable policies through bottom-up actions.
