Practice memory: steaming clothes and dealing with drafts

Many researchers continue to equate creativity with multiple forms of intelligence and talent. However, during the guided video tours we learned that creativity and the ability to improvise is not a magical force, a born gift or an uncontrollable entity –creativity is located in the mundane and it is created through the way people engage in their everyday activities. In this sense, Maller and Strengers (2015, page 147) argue that mobile populations (such as migrants) carry embodied practice memories about how to perform everyday activities from their country of origin to new locations. A practice memory is defined as ‘past enactments of practices that are embodied in their performers, leading to their

resurrection in new and modified forms’ (Maller et al. 2013, page 244). This implies that ‘a record or trace of [a practice’s] history [is] preserved and reproduced the bodies which carrying it ‘(Maller et

al. 2013, page 245) as well as in the materials involved in carrying it out. In this sense, memories how to manage and direct flows never truly ‘die’ or become ‘fossilized’ (Shove et al 2012, page 34), but are ‘preserved in a cryogenic-like state’ until such conditions emerge which lead to their potential

resurrection or modification’ (Maller et al. 2013, page 245). Here we will exemplify the way practice

memories of steaming clothes and dealing with drafts can resurface after moving in to a new location.

During the guided tours I could learn that female students do more ironing than male students and ironing is related to dressing code and presentability. This was the case of House 9 in which all female residences were wearing a ‘hijab’ or a ‘headscarves’ that was part of their muslim identity. Samara is ironing her ‘hijab’ daily on an ironing board with an iron that ‘goes to standby after two minutes and

turns off automatically’. Emily (House 4) also showed me her ironing board and iron as Alison (22)

who is hiding her iron from Sandra under her bed ‘it got it from downstairs it was in the house when I

came’. But how male students do the ironing? During the first interview session Steve (House 1) would

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119 in the case of Arthur (House 2) ironing is interwoven with sensory, emotional and environmental dimensions of bathing practices.

Thus Arthur lives in a house without shower and washing machine. He takes baths and uses the Campus laundrette to wash his clothes. Ironing was an issue for Arthur, ‘because on a placement in a hospital,

or in a pharmacy, and you have to look smart’ and he had to figure out a method that will remove the

wrinkles from his clothing fast. Arthur’s uncle Stephen, likes to take steamy baths it used to hang the wrinkled clothes on a shower rod. Stephen would start the water that he will put on hot and close windows, doors so the steam can get out. It takes around 15 minutes of steam to get the wrinkles out. Arthur is showing me this method and he hangs one of his wrinkled shirt above the bath (Image 5.10.). Well, above Arthur bath, is a little tiny hole, that meant to be there. It is not like someone knocked a hole in the wall, and Arthur remarks ‘I have no idea what it would have been, but is perfect for putting

the bit of a clothes hanger in there, and suspending my shirt over there. I would not do exclusively just for the shirt I make sure I do it when I am having a bath, I am not just going mental like that…’

While telling me this he hangs his shirt over the bath, he makes sure that the door is closed, to be ‘really

steamy here’ (Arthur) and ‘somehow, I don’t know how it works but that [pointing to the shirt] it completely strains out...becomes presentable. I want to learn how to produce the steam that makes the

shirt presentable. Arthur shows me ‘so what I do normally in the morning I put both on equally’ and Arthur turns on the cold and the hot water tap, and shows me the way the water is flowing from the tap. But when he needs to iron his clothes ‘I will put actually a little bit slower, [Arthur turns on the

hot tap showing the flow rate of the hot water] I put just the hot on, I put quite slowly, so uses the hot water slower, so...so...the temperature of the water in it would be hot because..so it slowly rise [showing me this while moving his fingers up and down] and it will be always nice and hot and producing more steam, but then again just...just my sort of idea, how may work, I don’t know, I have not done a test if it works as well with the other option...this is just my hunch.]

120 Image 5.10. Arthur (House 4) showing me the way she irons his clothes while bathing

What Arthur is witnessing is the condensation of the evaporated water - what he calls steam- tiny, white droplets of (liquid) water that are suspended in air. The easiest way to explain the evaporation phenomena is to think at the molecular level. For example, I imagine a single molecule of water, sitting on the top surface of Arthur’s bath. This lonely molecule vibrates with a certain kinetic energy, and collides with other water molecules surrounding it. The collision might allow one of the molecules to

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121 escape the surface of the liquid as vapor in the air above (or hot air rises). This process is called evaporation and it can be observed on the macro level as water slowly disappearing (actually transitioning into invisible water vapor). In a closed system (such as bathroom door, windows closed) this process will reach an equilibrium when the collision rate is less than the rate at which the liquid releases molecules. It condenses, turns opaque, and becomes visible water vapor (or steam) that Arthur’s observe.

The reason while the ironing works is that the majority of clothing’s act as thermoplastics. In other words, the material of the clothing become soft when heated, compared to thermoset, which becomes hard once it cools, and no amount of reheating can undo it (for example kitchens laminate countertops). Thus as Arthur’s wrinkled clothing has to undergo a plastic deformation, and he needs to heat the shirt up its glass transition point, to smooth out the wrinkles. When the fabric cools down, Arthur’s clothes should be relatively wrinkle free.

In the above example Arthur described the resurrection of past practices of ironing, although the specific make-up of the ironing practice is not performed exactly as it was in his uncle house. The inclusion of new material elements, such as the bedroom wall for hanging the clothes above the steamy water, demonstrates the way the practice memory responds to the local availability of elements as it is resurrected (Maller et al. 2013, page 153). On the other hand, this example suggests how energy wasteful activities can be resurrected as well.

In three houses we observed that students are using draft-stoppers or door curtains to keep the heated air inside the house. While House 5 landlord installed a large commercial curtain on the front door that students were using regularly, House 7 living room door had a door curtain that was ‘thiny, polyester

or something, that will not gonna insulate anyway.’ (Markus, House 7)

During the guided tours Emily’s (House 4) complained about her drafty windows and about the ‘big

gap’ under her door and we wanted to learn how to trap the hot air inside the room and keep out the

corridor lights (Image 5.9.). When the room it's drafty Emily puts ‘either this’ pointing to the piece of clothing hanged on the door, ‘that is a dressing gown, or big towel like that, close the door and lay it

122 in front...’. As I don’t really understand the method I ask kindly Emily to show me exactly the way she

fits the towel to stop the cold air entering her room.

Image 5.9. Emily and Mark (House 4) showing me a way of blocking the gap under the bedroom door

She closes the door and starts to roll up a big white towel while telling me: ‘In my old house I use to

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123 to take measures whit his figures of the gap under Emily door. Emily is not impressed she replies with ‘Yeah’ and continuous with the rolling up of the towel and continues her idea by telling me ‘...women

tights fill them off with old women clothes and then tide the end... like a big sausage cause my old house is really drafty and then they were already made…’ and crouches down with the rolled up towel that

she lays in front of her door. Mark checks if there is any draft coming under the door and crouches down and he puts his hand on the towel, that makes Emily to remark ‘I don’t think you can..it’s quite

good’. While Mark considers that ‘do the towel’ is useful he would never use this technique because

is more ‘effort than the draft what was causing.’ and is faster to turn up the radiator.

In this case the gap underneath the bedroom doors primarily assists the airflow throughout the house. Thus, outdoor air (or the depressurized) is supplied through the corridors and it enters the bedrooms through the gap under the door. Blocking the gap under the bedroom room not only reduces the airflow entering into the room but also the air flow through the house. The trapped air pressurizes Emily’s bedroom. This positive pressure forces conditioned air out of the bedroom through the drafty windows or force into cracks in walls or ceiling. One simple lesson that I learned from building science research is that for every cubic foot of air forced out of a building, a cubic foot must be drawn in from outside to replace it. Thus, an equal amount of air is drawn into the house through the drafty window to replace the forced-out air. The gap under the closed bedroom door does not obscure the airflow, limits heat loss that makes Emily to feel the room warmer during the winter. Otherwise with the drafty window and the gap under the door the Emily’s room will be less comfortable, she would adjust more often the radiator and health problems could proliferate.

Emily’s example suggests that sustainable forms of practice can be resurrected from dormancy encouraging a range of energy conservation actives such as innovative methods of blocking the heat leaving the room. Emily’s example also suggests how the duration and intensity of doing the practice had ensured its continual and unchanged performance (Maller et al. 2013, page 154). Importantly, Emily’s and Arthur’s example suggests that practices and their elements can be ‘remembered’, although the links between the elements are loosened when they are not actively performed (Maller et al. 2013).

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5.3. Conclusions

The video camera could not measure indoor environment conditions such as humidity level or air temperature, but we did record students’ reflections on the invisible elements of the home and their facial and bodily expressions in managing home environments. As exemplified in this chapter flows of air, light and sound were frequently associated with the use of appliances and systems that generate temperatures, light and sounds and consume electricity, gas and (possibly) other power sources (Pink et al. 2015).

During the home visits, we observed that some of the students made their own improvisory interventions based on their own knowledge of their homes, including the direction and management of flows. We observed that these improvisations are part of their everyday movements students made as they moved through their homes without really ‘thinking about it’ consciously (Pink et al. 2015).

Yet, by conceptualising householders as managers of flows, we highlighted how they ongoingly make interventions in the management of their homes as part of everyday life. In this chapter we exemplified that the way students managed and directed the flows of air, light or sound was based on their embodied experiences as well as their sensory-aesthetic making of home (Pink et al. 2015). Furthermore, looking at the domestic environments through the prism of flows, enabled a way to situate practices and to start looking into energy managing practices which involved a focus on how energy in consumed through specific everyday life ‘practices’ and not practice.

We also exemplified the way experiences and memories can lie dormant and can resurface in times of disruption, bringing an opportunity to resurrect past skills in carrying out practices and, for example handling energy (Maller et al. 2015). Energy Saving Competitions are good examples the way energy saving practices temporarily resurrect practice memories, although as argued by Maller et al. (2015) just for a short period of time. Practice memories also suggests that sustainable communities (such as Campus communities or Eigg Island, Chapter 2.7.) where practice memories lie dormant in a large number of carriers are potential sites of resurrection (Maller et al. 2015). In the next chapter is will discuss how practices-that-consume-energy hang together and to show how these different types of connections matter for each other.