Senseflows is a case study and pilot project developed as part of the “Histories, Spaces and Heritage” research initiative. I worked with Anna-Maria Sichani and the Sonor Cities research team to design and develop an Omeka-based digital sensorial archive documenting flows and transformation in urban space at the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the early 20th century Greek state. The project involved data modeling, developing custom metadata fields and terminologies and developing interactive features focusing on the materialities and sensorial qualities of neighborhoods, monuments and objects. The “Senselows” website is currently in beta version.

“By focusing on sensorial aspects of urban space at a time of crisis, transition and transformation, we aim to capture and digitally reconstruct ‘’imprints” of communities that would not, otherwise, occupy their deserved place in the urban archive, and to map less known or elusive intercommunal flows, transfers and itineraries that resonate with the individual experiences of everyday life/daily life.

Developing the sensorial archive in the above mentioned situation requires a thick description of the communities’ material culture based on all available means that documents it. The sensorial archive allows us to define and describe sensorial flows in the city of Salonica and give answers regarding the embodied/affective experiences & senses of place and spatial modalities that these (sensorial flows) generate.”

Project info

Project team:

• Panagiotis Poulos
• Kostis Kornetis
• Anna-Maria Sichani

Partners:

• French School at Athens (École Française d’ Athènes)

• Sonor Cities Research Team

Funding:

• French School at Athens (École Française d’ Athènes)

*Header image credit: New Public Library / Public Domain