Everyday Life in a Heritage Village

Abstract

This paper describes a film-led, practice-centred research project developed in the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) at the University of Leicester in partnership with National Museums Liverpool (NML), residents of Port Sunlight, a heritage village close to Liverpool, Port Sunlight Village Trust (PSVT), and Soup Collective, a film and audio visual organisation led by filmmaker Mark Thomas. Part of the CineMuseSpace project developed by the School of Architecture at the University of Cambridge which set out to explore European and Asian film as an archive of everyday spatial practice in order to reveal the ways in which we ‘live, love, work and sleep in buildings’ differently, the RCMG research explored the relevance of the larger research project and findings for NML and, in the context of NML, set out to use the research to stimulate a conversation about life in Port Sunlight by making a film of its own. Exploratory and experimental and moving far beyond conventional notions of research dissemination, the experience proved insightful and deeply personal for all involved.