In the first of a new series, we sit down for a chat with visiting scholar Professor Wolney Unes and learn all about his research into cultural heritage and in particular his recent work looking at the legacy of the Art déco movement.
Hi Wolney – could you please introduce yourself and outline your research?
I followed a path of multiple interests and multiple studies. I started with Engineering, but the arts have always attracted my attention, so architectural heritage was the natural destiny.
On the other hand, built heritage makes much more sense when seen in combination with other aspects of life than when seen on its own, and I mean here literature, music, and so on. All that put together makes up the cultural studies, with its multidisciplinary necessary approach, both material and intangible.
So, in order to try to grasp the full meaning of a cultural heritage, one has to keep an eye (and an ear!) on the path of the tangible object throughout its history and its relationship to that community, with the stories, music, symbols and representations.
Apart from that, there are some cultural traces that go submerged, unconsidered. So, Mid-Western Brazil for instance has a virtually invisible culture, and we´ve trying to make it more visible, by telling its history not only with the buildings, but also about the occupation process, local foods, local dialects, music, and much more.
Please could you share with us your academic journey so far?
As I said, it all began with Engineering, moving on to a master in architecture and a doctorate in arts, of course with some music and literature in between, in universities such as Mozarteum (Austria), Brasília and São Paulo. Very important mentors have been the late Prof. Frank Svensson (history of architecture) and Prof. Aguinaldo Gonçalves (art criticism), who showed me the importance of multidisciplinarity.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now, we´re planning a series of events concerning the 100 years of the Parisian Art déco exhibit of 1925, which is a sort of landmark for the style. Art déco is one of those forgotten pieces of our heritage I was talking about, not only in Brazil, but also in the UK and in Europe in general. Modernism has faded this, although short living, very emblematic epoch of the artistic language.
What drew you to Liverpool and to the Heritage Institute, and how is the experience of living & working here?
I noticed that the goals of the Heritage Institute are very similar to ours: endangered heritage. I would say Art déco is one of those endangered traces of our architectural history, of course not by means of war, but through obnubilation, oblivion and a sort of very strong negative criticism especially coming from the Modern movement.
In Brazil, until recently, it was referred to as “Protomodernism”, and a mere late experimental branch of the Beaux-Arts. No, no, it was a fully developed international style, actually the first artistic movement to involve the whole world!
Another threat comes from the academy itself: if you take most compendiums on art and architecture, you might not even be able to find a single reference to it, especially studies from Central Europe. Of course, until since a few years ago even the name of this style was controversial, “style moderne”, “zig-zag”, “jazz age” are some of the titles which have been used, but nowadays Art déco has been always more used to define it.
What aspect of your research has most surprised you?
In the last few years, I´ve been more and more committed to studying and talking about cultural heritage, especially those forgotten pieces of our heritage.
I would say, right now, in Brazil, one of the biggest problems is that architects dealing with built heritage often don´t take in consideration the liaisons between a building and the intangibility of its history. Many times, a strong emphasis is set upon the materiality of the building, not so much on its use, liveability, adaptations for modern life and – why not – a rewriting of its role.
How do you navigate interdisciplinarity in your work? Do you see this approach as essential for understanding heritage in a global context?
Cultural heritage is too important a subject to be left to one sort of professionals alone. So, it´s important to have a multitask team which includes professionals from various disciplines, from history to music, from literature to architecture and marketing. Together, this group would discuss the aspects which should be in the foreground of the approach of a given object.
You’ve written about World Heritage, placemaking, and sustainable tourism. How do you think heritage professionals can balance the pressures of tourism, conservation, and local community needs? Have you seen successful examples — perhaps in Brazil or here in the UK — where that balance has been achieved?
That´s two very different situations. Tourism in Brazil is mainly towards the big centres, and centred around sun and beaches. There is still very little cultural tourism in Brazil.
We have developed a work in a couple of sites, trying to make those communities visible by means of showcasing their cultural assets. On this process, of course the material heritage plays a fundamental role, but it is not enough. In 2001 we succeeded in including the mining town of Goiás (some 1,500 km from Rio, towards inland) in the Unesco heritage list, and have been working with the reinforcement of local foods, poets, writers and music. We even organized a film festival in the town, which has been going on for more than 20 years already. But is a hard work with slow results and still very few people come to visit the town.
In Europe the problem is maybe the contrary and we see cities like Hallstatt (in Austria) or Barcelona trying to close for tourism. Maybe there lies the answer: redirect tourism to more destinies, so there is less density in specific spots.
Where do you hope your work will make a tangible impact?
I would point out two facts. One of them, which makes me really glad (and also proud of it, why not?) is that our work opened up the Brazilian heritage listing procedures: in 2003, we got the city of Goiânia listed as an art déco national heritage, the first of its kind in the whole country!
That lead to a new look at many buildings and monuments, which followed the new path, and underwent a sort of revision and are now no longer considered “modernistic” or “protomodern”, but essentially Art déco. Examples for that are the statue Christ the Redeemer, in Rio de Janeiro (now officially announced as “the biggest Art déco monument in the world”), and the Lacerda Lift, in Salvador. Both are now officially Art déco works.
Another one is our multidisciplinary approach on working with the reuse of buildings. In Brazil, very often, architects had, and to a very large extent still have, the last word on such projects, and are always very serious about keeping the original materiality and substance of the building, having all other aspects as secondary to it. We have insisted that it might not be the proper concept, but it all should start with questions like what that specific building has to tell us today, to which use that building is more suitable today: we have to “listen to the building”, but with open and contemporary ears, how I like to put it. This approach could hence lead to eventual modifications in the very structure of the building, so as to be able to serve new uses. If it fails this point, most often the outcome is simple demolition to make way for a new venue.
What’s next for you academically?
Hard to say, but it would be great if we could bring together teams with different backgrounds, from different cultures. Maybe we succeed in bringing together students, professors and professionals from our two countries to work together, exchange experiences and share views! Right now, there´s not much contact between UK and Brazil, which is a pity. That´s why, right now, we have an open position for up to two students to follow the site work in one of our restoration projects in the province of Rio de Janeiro. You can follow that in social media: https://ruinasdemacacu.elysium.org.br/
I hope it works!
What have you most enjoyed in Liverpool so far?
Liverpool is a very interesting city, completely different from Southern England, much more lively and friendly. Of course its ancient role as a port is still present and the scouse culture is present in food, language and relations – that´s a whole package!
Architecturally, there are some remarkable spaces, like the old industrial buildings on the Baltic Triangle area, as well as along Argyle St. It called my attention that many buildings have their own and exclusive structural parts, like the anchor plates holding the façades, each one with its own design!
On the other hand, it impressed me that the city has many, many unoccupied spaces, awaiting further development and it's a pity that so many ancient and interesting buildings are left abandoned, like the old Abbey Cinema on North Church St, Wavertree, among many others. I can think of many cities where such a building would be honoured and treated with care, so as to house new uses.