Preservation of the Fleeting 

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This project finds its roots in Aarhus, a bustling urban-sprawl located on the eastern shore of Denmark. Aarhus is home to Den Gamle By, which translates to the Old Town Museum and is one of the more immersive, idiosyncratic museums in the world. 

 

In simple terms, Den Gamle By is an open-air, living history museum. It presents Danish townscapes stretching from the early 16th century through the 1970s, with individual sections allotted for different time periods. An array of exhibits — from the toy museum to the silverware exhibit to the textile museum — comprise some of the largest collections of artifacts in all of Denmark. 

 

There’s a specific section of the museum that is most pertinent to this project. A component is tucked away, closed to the public. Only Alzheimer’s patients and designated researchers are permitted entry. Here, beyond modeled villages, there are curated apartments — reminiscence apartments. They’re designed as small family homes from the 1950s, historically and authentically accurate to recreate the atmosphere of that era. "Accurate down to the tablecloths," as the Atlantic's Josh Planos put it in a piece on these apartments which, when cobbled together, form entire dementia villages. Rooms are littered with visual cues and objects whose sole purpose is to retrieve the memory of the Alzheimer’s patients, those of whom grew up during this time period. 

 

When the patients enter the reminiscence apartment, something magical happens: they start remembering. Alzheimer’s patients can’t search for memories themselves but, if the memories are made easily accessible for them, their chances improve. All they have to do is probe the surface, rather than plunge far below. That’s what is happening here. 

 

Reminiscence apartments speak to the inherent conflict which I attempt to explore. There’s an antithetical nature between memory, nostalgia and Alzheimer’s, a degenerative condition that chips away at the brain’s ability to recollect and recall. 

 

These apartments aim to tackle a series of profound questions: Can memories actually be preserved through this style of immersion? And, as an extension, can the person be preserved amidst the harrowing throes of Alzheimer’s? 

 

Early indications would seem to suggest yes, thereby offering a potential blueprint to cracking a decades-long issue. It’s the extent of the ‘yes’ and the according implications of that answer that I delve into through the course of my short story.