GEOGRAPHY OF MEMORIES
Through our approach, we aimed to inspire a new way of observing the built environment—not just through abstract maps and planners’ drawings, but through the personal significance places and spaces hold in people’s lives. The project invited us to engage with the history of map-making and reflect on the power that the lines drawn by architects carry. Even if the demolition driven by urban renewal cannot be halted, we can preserve the memories embedded in the built environment and the silent knowledge held by the area’s residents.
The results of the Geography of Memories project were exhibited in Culture Space Merirasti in August 2025. The site specific exhibition adopted its form from the former chapel hall. On the wall of, in the place of the altarpiece, hung a memory map that compiled information about the memories of Meri-Rastila: past and present significant places for which locals have struggled. The altar table was covered by fourteen stacks of A4-papers. The A4 represents the systems of standardization that guide our daily lives and aim to enact control over the human experience. The stacks of paper symbolized the myriad of surveys conducted of Meri-Rastila, and comprised the final publication of the project in the form of a deconstructed book that aimed to showcase what surveys conducted of the social life of neighborhoods could look like.
The project is funded by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation and the City of Helsinki.
Esipuhe
Johdanto
Alkumyytti: Haastattelussa Meri-Rastilan kaavoittaja Vesa Jakkula
Kulta-aika: Asukaskahvila Fokka
Sankareiden aika: Meri-Rastilan rantametsä
Legendat: Sjökullan torppa ja Rastilan kartano
Taantumus: Kaupunkiuudistus
Renessanssi: Merirasti
Uusi aika: Ostari
Pro Meri-Rastilan vaikuttamistyö Meri-Rastilan puolesta
Moona Tikka: Mielipiteiden keräämisestä ymmärryksen lisäämiseen