Brannstasjon i bakspeilet. Samtidsarkeologiske betraktninger under avviklingen av Sentrum Brannstasjon i Trondheim våren 2015

Fire station in the rear mirror. Archaeological reflections during the abandonment of the Trondheim Central Fire Station. In May 2015, after almost 70 years of service to the town, the Central Fire Station in Trondheim was abandoned. The fire and rescue service was relocated to a series of more modern stations circling the city center. The process of abandonment opened the fire station for closer insights – as part of an art project. The fire station is a telling example of what Bruno Latour (1999) labels a “blackbox”, collectives of humans and things “made invisible by their own success”. Normally, it is the fire squad’s loud and flashing response to an emergency calls, firefighting and rescue operations that gets the attention. The fire station itself is a building among others in the town; a garage for the fire trucks, a place for firefighters between operations. The endoscopic journey in the station revealed a delicate, complex and highly targeted machinery of humans and things that circles around stealing time; moving seconds and minutes to where they are the most needed, where they make up the difference between life and death, fire and inferno. Down to the smallest details, this human-thing collective, is designed for readiness, speedy movement of personnel, myriads of well-maintained things carefully arranged for a rapid response to all kinds of misery that can happen to the town and its inhabitants. The station is now rebuilt for new functions, an institution for contemporary art, a “house of literature” and an office complex. Important architectonical characteristics (façade, the marble staircase, Fire Chief’s office) are still part of the building, but all things that point to the imperative function of the fire station are removed, no rear mirrors to all material memories of the station’s long and faithful service to the town, and with it all other remains from past fire stations at the same spot. “Our present day world is made up of materials from the past” (Olivier 2004) – this also goes for visual arts and literature. The Trondheim Central Fire Station case advocates the need of broader and more reflexive, interdisciplinary and multivocal perspectives in the management of the cultural heritage of our recent past. “Archaeology – the discipline of things” (Olsen et al. 2012) have potential to make a difference.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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