Context 155 - July 2018

C O N T E X T 1 5 5 : J U L Y 2 0 1 8 23 Theory and practice We understand heritage as making futures. The material we select for conservation will become building blocks of the future. This idea is not unusual. It underpins many visions for heritage preservation: ‘for ever, for everyone’ (National Trust), ‘now and for future generations’ (Historic Environment Scotland), ‘hold[ing] in trust for society’ (Museums Association UK). Although frequently mentioned, it is usually unclear what specific perceptions of the future inform the work of practitioners (Högberg et al, 2017). Heritage Futures shines a light on how the specific practices used to manage different heritage legacies work towards particular futures and away from others. We understand heritage comparatively by bring- ing together fields that usually operate in isola- tion. We undertake fieldwork across a diverse range of heritage domains, and in areas that may appear unconventional, such as people’s homes, space messaging and nuclear waste disposal.We also create opportunities for our diverse partner organisations to engage in shared knowledge exchange. For example, we ran a workshop hosted by one of our project partners, the New School House Gallery in York, introducing a professional declutterer to museum curators to discuss managing storerooms full of objects. Moreover, by using our research practice to span professional fields, which typically operate with little shared knowledge of what is being done in other areas, we unpack dualisms evident in heritage practice (such as natural/cultural, tangible/intangible, digital/material, personal/ institutional), exploring how these are entangled or interconnected. Finally, we understand heritage through practice by moving beyond a focus on policy to examine technical and practical activities such as col- lecting, categorising, managing, and storing. By looking at how various targets of conservation are constructed through these practices, we acknowledge how meaning and value can change across time and place. This highlights moments of negotiation – and sometimes contestation – between the intersecting hopes and ambitions of different stakeholders, especially around her- itage definitions, categories and/or values. Implications We share here three insights with applied rel- evance for management and conservation.These are necessarily tentative, reflecting continuing collaborations and conversations with our part- ners and others. 1 Embracingwhat is usuallymitigated. Management models based on the endangerment narratives discussed above attempt to either avoid or mitigate change. Some heritage organisations, including the IHBC, are already mandated to ‘manage change’ as part of their core missions, and many heritage professionals acknowledge the futility of holding change at bay. Heritage Futures research on nuclear waste management provides an example of how change can be an integral part of management. The COVRA nuclear waste repository in the Netherlands is designed to manage waste for 100 years while plans for longer-term management are implemented. The main building was originally painted bright orange, but will be repainted a lighter shade every 10 years to emphasise that the material inside is changing, and to keep the building prominent in the public imagination (Codée, 2000). Uncertainty and change can sometimes generate new memories, objects and meanings, and be embraced within management frameworks rather than avoided (as Caitlin DeSilvey discusses in this issue). 2 Exploring the benefactors of heritage preservation and conservation . When heritage is framed as a gift to the future (such as in von Droste zu Hülshoff B, 2006), it allows us to overlook its role in power struggles today. Our research on the challenge of managing what museum prac- titioners sometimes call ‘vast’ or ‘huge’ stored collections reveals how these can be framed as a ‘problem’ or as a ‘resource’. In the current British austerity climate, unseen collections are sometimes considered ‘too costly’ or a ‘drain The main building at the COVRA nuclear waste repository in the Netherlands will be repainted a lighter shade every 10 years to emphasise that the material inside is changing.