The Invisible Space

Phase 1: user + material

Navjeet GhumanFeb 24, 2010

User: Elderly of foreign origin*Mary*+70 Sri Lankan *Living in Askøy, Bergen for the past 8 years*Mother of the owner of ‘Taste of Indian’ restaurant on Marken*Gets weary when there is snow outside

Routine:

*Attends Methodist Church in Bergen city center every Sunday morning*After which, she comes to the restaurant to help*She comes often to Taste of Indian

Following a Narrative

“Stages”:

«THE MOVIE: In New York City’s changing Lower East Side, a group of older Puerto Rican wo-men and inner-city youth come together to create an original play out of the stories of their lives. Wea-ving together themes of immigration, evolution, aging and coming of age, Stages offers an intimate portrait of an unlikely ensemble, transformed by the liberating power of their own stories.» - meerkat-media.org

Social InfrastructureA situation where one is grouped and supported just through sharing and intertwining with others like them and others not like them. It makes for a richer and fulfilling experience

“Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know of life. It is the sign of life in a mortal body, that is to say, of a state of process and change. Nothing that lives is, or can be, rigidly perfect. Part of it is decaying, part nascent …And in all things that live there are certain irregularities and deficiencies, which are not only signs of life but sources of beauty”

Hapticity and Time – Juhani Pallasma on John Ruskin’s view.

Anne Geddes

What does it mean to grow old?

Aging –health deteriorating, loss of independence Growing older – enjoying the fruits of life, grandchildren, peace of mind, enlightenment, pas-sing of knowledge.

Growing older is turned into a disability, being an immigrant can be turned into a disability when you cannot find your environment or place of comfort or when you are limited socially.

What does it mean to grow old in a foreign country?

Her world is inside. Living in the comfort and safe environment her son has created for her. Servi-cing and taking pleasure in food and helping her son run his business. Maybe she has a limited ex-change during her encounters with the Norwegians. To a certain degree she is isolated from her foreign environment. The climate, people, language, sound, smell are all very different for her.

Two aspects that assist life as you are getting older:

*One of exchange and sharing: as we see in Stages – the film documentary

*One of the assisting environment: your space, comfort factor. In my user’s case, she is afraid to go out in the snow because it makes her weary, and needs support of her son.

«A greater interest in the history of one’s cultural group often caracterizes this period. This is even more marked among immigrants, who at this point in their lives tend to show an increased involvement in homoethnic community. When evening falls: The immigrant’s encounter with mid-dle and old age - Salman Akhtar and Lois Wonsun Choi»

homoethniccommunity

Retire?

Retirement phase for native counterparts is filled in perhaps by - sking, camping, fishing, golf, travel, which most often does not suit the immigrant.

Relation with children/grandchildren

Children might/might not leave home. If they leave parents will see the ‘state of their home resembling an empty nest’ leading them to rely more on cultu-ral community. They find their grandchildren idealize them less and seek their advice less. This coupled with the generational and cultural gap leeds the to sometimes feel that their grandchildren are not a true continuation of their line.

The Convalescent c.1860, Charles Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran

«...with increasing isolation and despair, a longing for acceptan-ce and unconditional love of the sort only the mother of early childhood can provide...their ori-ginal home becomes a figurative Garden of Eden for which they long as a representation of their youth and great potential lost. When evening falls: The immigrant’s en-counter with middle and old age - Salman Akhtar and Lois Wonsun Choi»

Material Speculation

creating an emotive object that links to comforting mo-ments during earlier life.