Vestiges industriels montréalais : appropriations, rôles et enjeux sociaux
The notion of heritage, formerly attached to concepts such as art and monument, seems to these past years emancipate itself from its traditional material forms to include more and more intangible manifestations. Authors (Smith 2005; Graham, Ashworth et Turnbridge 2000) wanting to rethink the shaping of the notion have even suggested to conceive heritage as a cultural active process that would be a product of its environment and would be mainly constituted of actions, such as remembering, transmission of memory and knowledge, definition of identity and social cohesion, all undergoing in the present and being continuously actualized. This dissertation proposes the theoretical exercise of applying this new active conception of heritage to the study of the role that industrial remnants, a sort of heritage often discarded, plays in Montreal’s society. The adoption of a new definition of the notion of industrial heritage that withstands the idea that the tangible can only be understood and interpreted by the intangible allows the study of social and cultural practices, like urban exploration, ruin photography and artistic installations, who attest of the values and significations that a part of the population associates with industrial ruins. This work will also tackle the more orthodox usages of industrial remnants, such as conversions or patrimonial preservations, to see if those can also be included in a performative concept of industrial heritage. This study on the conventional and non conventional usages of industrial ruins wishes to contribute to the reflection on modes of experiencing and sharing industrial heritage that could comply with the values and significations that are assigned to these remnants.
Heritage Industrial archaeology Montreal Social practices Identity