(Re-)Tracing History. New Methodologies for Making the Past Tangible, Palpable and Negotiable

The past lives on in the present in visible and invisible, material and immaterial ways. While some of the traces of the past in the present are publicly recognized and acknowledged, others are not. Unknown, overlooked, or ignored, these traces of the past nonetheless affect the present, shaping society and informing public debate. Three subprojects investigate how oral history, dance and virtual dialogues can be applied as ways to make unacknowledged traces of the past tangible, palpable, and negotiable in the public domain.
Stories in Motion seeks to develop, analyse and evaluate methods for making oral histories accessible as sustainable resources for citizens and a range of stakeholders in urban settings. Feeling the Traces of the Colonial Past seeks to understand how dance can function as a methodology for evoking and communicating affects and emotions evoked by the Dutch colonial and slavery past.
A Virtual Agora develops a method to negotiate the traces of the past through participatory techniques and with the help of digital tools. QR-codes at diverse locations on Dom Square in Utrecht direct people to an interactive website with subpages dedicated to each different location and its stories.