Output details

Ports of Call: Walks of Art at the Royal Docks

Directed by Butler, ‘Ports of Call’ is a multi-media public history practice/theory output that includes online mapping, historical audio trails, an exhibition and activities with local young people. It is set in East London’s Royal Docks, a regeneration zone where City Airport, the Excel Exhibition Centre and new housing developments are interspersed with the historic communities of Silvertown and North Woolwich. The population includes many who are new to the area, among them dockside development residents, children and newly arrived immigrant groups. Drawing on multiple local voices rather than a single expert, the project encourages local people to explore the area, reflect on their local/global heritage and psychologically ‘ungate’ sites through their incorporation as trail locations. Butler made a point of involving local residents—especially young people—in the design and delivery of the trails in order to encourage them to build an empathy with their surroundings.

The project draws on Butler’s theoretical work on the empathetic experience of listening to oral history on location, including ‘Teaching and Learning Guide for Memoryscape: How Audio Walks Can Deepen Our Sense of Place by Integrating Art, Oral History and Cultural Geography’, Geography Compass, 2, 5, 2008, 1750–54, and Butler (co-author with Miller), ‘Linked: A Landmark in Sound, a Public Walk of Art’, in Perks, Robert, and Alistair Thompson (eds.), The Oral History Reader, Routledge, 2006, 425-433). It went on to inform ‘The Historical Hearing Aid’, included as Output 2. The Heritage Lottery Fund (£50,000), Tate and Lyle (£4,000) and the Royal Docks Trust (£23,000) funded the project. Butler’s role included bid authorship, project design, selection of artists, volunteer training, output publication and authorship and website design.