2024/04/22Comment on Visiting Hashima Island 10 years later: Insights into the Future of Industrial Heritage by Massimo Preite

I am deeply grateful to Japan's Cabinet Secretariat and the Industrial Heritage Information Center (IHIC) for inviting me to join an “inspection tour “of Hashima Island among the sites of Meiji Japan's Industrial Revolution. I had the privilege of visiting these sites in 2014, at the kind invitation of the Secretariat, to attend the National Congress on Industrial Heritage (exactly one year before the inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List). Thanks also to the continuous comparison with other industrial sites nominated to UNESCO (through my frequent technical evaluation activities on behalf of ICOMOS), I was able to appreciate (during this visit) the full relevance of the reasons for the inscription, which took place about 10 years ago, in 2015. Since then, the Sites of Meiji Japan's Industrial Revolution have become an indispensable example for all those involved in the valorisation of industrial heritage: an example both of the universal significance of a unique experience of industrialisation in a non-Western country, and of the ability to bring together the 23 sites making up the series into an effective narrative framework.

The uniqueness of this WHS, in my opinion, lies in the unparalleled role played by the historical actors of this inscription and its management. During the meeting organised with the participants of the inspection tour, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the major historical actors of the Meiji Industrial Revolution, still in operation, has illustrated the strategic value of its direct engagement to the enhancement of Nagasaki's heritage sites. The potential of the Former Wood Pattern Shop as a historical museum of the Nagasaki Shipyards is not yet fully exploited, but it is surely destined to become one of the main hubs of industrial museography of the UNESCO serial property.

The inspection tour also offered an opportunity to appreciate some very important initiatives undertaken in recent years to innovate the interpretation of the sites: very important in that they have much to teach about some of the currently most debated issues in the field of industrial heritage.

The first theme is that of industrial heritage in relation to digitization. The ability to integrate these two aspects is of strategic importance as the increasing use of augmented reality and immersive virtual models is set to radically innovate visitors' approach to industrial heritage. For me, visits to the Industrial Heritage Information Center (IHIC) and the Gunkanjima Digital Museum (GDM) really provided a window into the future of new models of interpretation.

The IHIC is, in my opinion, the most effective demonstration of how archival materials and other sources of historical documentation can become opportunities for active rather than passive public enjoyment: through the use of interactive tools (panoramic multi-display platform, panel exhibitions, etc.), each visitor is able to construct a personal cognitive journey based on his or her interests and experiences. In addition, the IHIC's constant openness to new documentation, the dissemination of information and the involvement of experts in the development of new narratives, means that the centre is in a constant state of experimentation and is always coming up with new contents.

Another incomparable experience was a visit to the Gunkanjima Digital Museum, which allows visitors to enter virtually inaccessible places on Hashima Island through the most advanced digital technologies of virtual reality. For me, as an architect and urban planner, the photos projected on a 30-metre screen, the Interactive Panoramic of the World Heritage Site and other forms of digital representation provide a level of knowledge that even a direct visit to the sites cannot deliver. The effectiveness of the new virtual visualisation systems is magical. I can only recommend that both interpretation centres should also be accessible remotely, because what IHIC and GDM have to offer deserves to be shared with the widest possible audience.

In addition to these admirable initiatives in the field of industrial heritage digitisation, I cannot fail to express my full appreciation for the excellent work of consolidation and construction of the new seawalls protecting Hashima Island. In the course of my teaching at the university, I have always presented Hashima Island to my students as the greatest laboratory for experimenting with possible forms of enhancement of a heritage that, due to its extremely deteriorated state, seems almost irretrievable. However, the surveys currently underway on Hashima of the main remains of the production and residential facilities, and the repair projects aimed at prolonging the life of the buildings, prove that despite their extremely precarious condition, the game remains open, and that even in its ruined state, the existing industrial heritage still has much to say and teach. Just as it was 10 years ago, this year's visit will remain for me an unforgettable event and an inexhaustible source of inspiration for years to come.  

Massimo Preite