Barn Raising and the Imagination: Experiencing Life through the Reimagined Barn

Abstract

The mythical historic landscape of Kingsburg, Nova Scotia, Canada becomes a time and place to daydream, as long days spent in the sun end with red skies of sunset. This dream finds an end through a temporal shift to the waking reality of the contemporary. Framed through the social and material culture of the place, the contemporary landscape sits awake, as historic mythical traditions come to an end. This thesis responds to the decay of prototypical barn structures found in contemporary Kingsburg as only seven of the original eighteen barns are left standing. The imagined realm of Kingsburg proposes to bring new life to the rural community through imaginary events of community social gathering and dreaming, while embedding the tradition of imagining, working, and building upon the community. The work frames the familiar prototypical Kingsburg barn as a tool to study the social experience and material culture of the place.