Storywalk audio files

Generation ZX(X) took the audience/players on a journey through Camperdown Park, where they encountered the voices of women who used to work in the Timex factory. These voices were audio snippets of interviews that I conducted with 11 women who worked in the Timex.

The interviews were informal discussions, structured around a series of open ended questions thematically linked: personal background information, the work, the work environment, camaraderie and impact. The questions helped me to group the audio files in five categories: ‘3 words’, ‘Working on the computers’, ‘Working in Timex’, ‘The strikes’ and ‘Fun and friendship’. Each category was mapped to a certain area in the park.

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I engaged with the Verbatim technique in selecting the material and arranging it thematically. To the women’s voices I added my own, contextualising the interviews, describing their context and offering additional information about the interviewees and the creative process.

The audience/players arranged the material by moving through the park therefore a part of the creative editing inherent in the Verbatim form was delegated to them. As they explored together the memories of Timex they were invited to perform conviviality, solidarity and community thus enacting what Timex was (and temporarily still is) in the collective memory of those who lived through it. This was supported by the technology and the invitation to walk together. The phones facilitated group formation and inter-generational exchange as audience/players gathered around them to listen. Convivial walking (Lee and Ingold, 2006; Heddon, 2012; Heddon and Turner, 2012; Myers, 2010) aimed to facilitate dialogue and bonding as the audience/players adjusted their pace, rhythm and direction to accommodate each other and to share their own memories and experiences of Dundee.