Unclaimed

Explore this surreal lost property office where you will uncover stories in the most unlikely places.

By 2040 a quarter of the UK will be aged over 60. As our population gets older, we often hear of this demographic change as being a cause for concern. But there鈥檚 very little meaningful public discourse about what it means, or how it feels to grow old in our society. How do we experience and consider ageing in relation to our sense of self, each other and our wider society? And what impacts will technological and scientific changes have on the total experience of ageing in the future?

A new installation at the Barbican, created by Limited Space in collaboration with the LINKAGE research team, invites us to explore this topic in a fascinating way. Through some of the personal stories of 2,000 over-70s living in Camden, and leading academic research from 果冻影院鈥檚 gerontology team, it examines what it means to age in today鈥檚 society.

Unclaimed takes inspiration from lost property offices. It鈥檚 somewhere you can pick up items and discover the surprising, illuminating or 鈥榰nclaimed鈥� stories that emerged from 果冻影院鈥檚 research, led by Dr Dan Davis. It鈥檚 a blend of cultural, academic and public engagement practice that sheds new light on ageing.

At the heart of Unclaimed is this 鈥榦rdinary鈥� passage of life that everyone experiences as 鈥榓geing鈥�, yet it鈥檚 often not how we think about it. 鈥楽ometimes I look at myself, and I just think, 鈥淕od, I wonder how people see me鈥�. Other times, I鈥檓 just that child running round the park that I always was. 鈥楴othing changes and everything changes. It鈥檚 like there鈥檚 this rock of who you are at the most elemental and it doesn鈥檛 really change, but you think other people looking at you will think you鈥檙e different because you鈥檙e older.鈥�

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Unclaimed runs from 11th Feb to 3rd May 2019. For more information:

For the full interview with Dr Dan Davis: