Voices of Londoners 70+ on ageing
You will love the learning and sharing and raw emotion in this episode of The Big Middle.
For this look at the big issues of longer midlife, I’ve teamed up with The Liminal space, a London design consultancy-cum-think tank. You may already know a space that’s liminal is one of transition and transformation, where what was becomes what next.
The studio collaborated with the Centre for Ageing Better and University College London to create Unclaimed, a quirky immersive installation about population ageing that had a great first run at The Barbican. Funds permitting, the exhibit will come out of storage for a tour of the UK and beyond.
The anonymous voices you’ll hear are the stars of Unclaimed, all 70 and older. But you don’t see what their owners look like or discover more about them than what they share. Director Sarah Douglas more than met the challenge of provoking deeper thinking about ageing without using images that might have reinforced ageist stereotypes. The Liminal Space team came up with a metaphor for all of life – a lost property office.
Notes
- Interview of Sarah Douglas, Director of The Liminal Space, about Unclaimed
- Montage of voices of +70s featured in audio vignettes in the interactive installation
Links
- Unclaimed – The Liminal Space
- Research of gerontologists at University College London of north Londoners interviewed for Unclaimed
- News coverage of Unclaimed
Follow The Big Middle
Thoughts?
4 Replies to “What it means, how it feels to grow old”
Leave a Reply
Yuru Guo + Frankie DockerYou’re going to adore these two delightful […]
Nutritionist Sally NortonCan you harm yourself by eating too much spinach? […]
Sally Norton on toxic oxalates in ‘superfoods’Share this episode […]
Dr Fayne Frey: The Skincare HoaxHow to keep your skin at its healthy best on this […]
My Skin Cancer latestA skin cancer update for you now if you’re a regular […]
I am a huge fan of your podcast Susan Flory. I am telling everyone I know to make time to listen to this episode. It is brilliant. It made me laugh and even cry a little. I’ve listened to these people over 70 sharing precious insights into their lives and want to meet them all. Makes me think I need to stop and talk to people, ask questions and listen more.
Thank you so much Virginia. It was a joy to make this episode with such moving testimonies from these wonderful wise ones. Cheers!
What an interesting and thought provoking podcast. Great to listen to. Bring the project to Newcastle
It really does deserve as big an audience as possible Chris. We’ll need to get a patron to step up and get this show on the road.