Pilot 1: a compositional ethnography from a neighbourhood in development

In this project multisensory methods are applied in a study investigating the sensory experiences of artists of a neighborhood in full transition, the Vaartkom region in Leuven. Four artists participated in walk-along interviews to explore the changing neigborhood. After the walks, the artists were invited to turn their olfactory, visual, auditory and olfactory sensations into an artistic creation instead of trying to verbalize them. This method showed that both physical aspects of a sensation and abstract aspects such as feelings, memories and imaginairy constructs all contribute to the lived experience of a neigborhood. Apart from evaluating the potential of multisensory methods in exploring experiences that project also emphasizes the potential of different pathways into research communication and serves as an experimental platform that allows researchers and artists to learn from each others jargon and to inspire each other in research focussing on experiences of place and space as a topic of interest.