I’m Sarah Douglas, director of The Liminal Space, and this is ‘Unclaimed’.
When facing this installation, there is a bench behind you against the wall. There is also a bench inside the installation, to the right of the entrance. We recommend that you listen to this stop before entering the installation, where this sound is playing out loud.
‘Unclaimed’ is about what it feels like to grow older in today’s society. It began with hundreds of conversations with older people from different communities, alongside research carried out by University College London and the Centre for Ageing Better. We worked closely with participants through interviews and creative workshops to capture their experiences of ageing and find ways to bring those stories to life through objects, sound and space.
The installation has been designed to look and feel like a lost property office, reflecting the vast variety of stories of ageing today, and how many of these stories are easily overlooked.
Once inside the installation, you are surrounded on all four sides by walls covered with many shallow, open, rectangular boxes that stick out toward you, like shelves without doors. The boxes vary in size. Some are wide, some are tall and some are nearly square. The boxes are arranged in a loose grid. They are slightly offset and layered so the surface is uneven rather than flat. Some boxes stick out more than others.
The boxes are painted different colours, including bright blue, bright green and pale pink. The colours are mixed evenly across the wall. The boxes are filled with objects connected to our everyday lives, such as clothes, books, crockery, toys, umbrellas.
Some of the objects will feel familiar, others might catch you by surprise. Each one is connected to a personal story. You’re invited to take your time here, to look, read and listen, and to spend a few moments encountering someone else’s experience of ageing.
Headlines often mention things like “our ageing society” and the “cost of care” – but how much do we really stop and think about it until it’s our turn? By bringing together real human stories with research, ‘Unclaimed’ aims to give a little more context to some of the big questions around ageing today, and to encourage us to consider our own future ageing.
We encourage you to handle and explore the written tags. These encompass data, research, cultural insights and provocations drawn from a range of sources. Some of the stories feature difficult experiences, such as losing a pension, navigating the city as an immigrant, or feeling isolated later in life. Others focus on moments of joy, such as noticing the light through the trees in a local park, making new connections, or finding meaning through creativity.
‘Unclaimed’ also reflects the many different forms that family and care can take in later life. People speak about their chosen families, queer experiences and relationships across generations. Together, these stories remind us that ageing is not one single experience.
By spending time with the objects and voices here, we invite you to reflect on your own experience of growing older, and to think about how society might become more aware and supportive of us all as we age.
To leave the exhibition, go back out of the ‘Unclaimed’ installation and turn to your right, where you will find the double-door exit out of the gallery.
This is the end of Stop 12.