Shaped by familiarity: Memory, Space and Materiality at Imperial War Museum North

This paper considers Imperial War Museum North’s attempts to disturb popularmemories about British experiences of war through the mobilisation of space andmateriality. However, it is argued that this does not succeed because of the spatial mediation and object placement employed throughout which allow the museum to reinforce bodily, spatial and historical experiences of the outside world. The second part of the paper analyses the neglected place of the museum shop inthis, which contributes to making the IWM visit one of familiarity because of thequotidian consumption practices that are encouraged there.