MJM20 Blog 6 Newhaven Fort

Location-specific Actionbound draft
Actionbound Newhaven Fort : Honouring pasts, connecting futures

Stage one
What does it sound like at the Newhaven Fort?
Find spot Location coordinates 50.7832° N, 0.0544° E

Stage 2

Why is there a Canadian war memorial at Newhaven?

Go to collections at the Fort and find the answers

http://www.publicsculpturesofsussex.co.uk/files/sculptures-pics/East%20Sussex/Newhaven/Royal%20Canadian%20Engineers%20Memorial/NE01I01.JPG

http://www.publicsculpturesofsussex.co.uk/onmap?id=77

Stage 3

How far is it to Dieppe and how long would it take to get there in a small boat?
Find Dieppe on an OS map and estimate travel time

Stage 4

Where is the secret tunnel and what was it used for?
Look at the information to answer the questions

http://www.secret-tunnels.co.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/19/a2223019.shtml

Stage 5

What kind of poetry and music does the landscape and situation inspire?
Listen to recordings of contemporary and historic poems whilst sitting outside at the Fort looking over the sea

HMS Forward was a military intelligence centre located in Newhaven. The challenge for a bound developed here was how to integrate a challenging past with opportunities for positive future connections across continents in the digital age.
A key question is how can people utilise technology to support people in environmental challenges such as flooding and also social and political instability. Today’s disaster is the loss of life for refugees trying to cross oceans in small boats fleeing from war, many people had smartphones. The distance from Turkey to Lesbos is similar to Newhaven to Dieppe.

The websites with information about Newhaven Fort focus on community connections and memories. The bound idea would support people to look at the connections and history found in the collections and on the websites and to locate memorials and significant historic locations.

In addition, spoken word poetry and music associated with the history could be recorded and linked to the locations to be listened to as part of the stages. The blending of ‘the digital with the physical’ NetPark (2015) would help to create an atmosphere and sensory experience of history in the present. Where a location has history which is difficult to represent through audio locative media, narratives through spoken words can reflect history and atmosphere.

References

Behrends F, (2015) NetPark

http://www.ournewhaven.org.uk/category/about

https://cmea-agmc.ca/royal-canadian-engineers-memorial-ww-ii-dieppe-raid