Of tennis courts and fireplaces: Neurath's internment on the Isle of Man and his politics of design

Abstract

This talk is based in archival research in Otto Neurath’s correspondence and papers, and secondary and primary reading on the Isle of Man, and on wartime internment policy. It is also based in my own brief research at the Manx Museum in Douglas, my visit to the site of the Onchan internment camp and discussion with friends and relatives of internees in nearby camps. My argument, however is speculative and heuristic, and should be taken in that spirit. In this paper I am interested in teasing out connections, and in working with unresolved loose ends from my research, to address the connections between Neurath's ideas about interior design, furnishing and architecture or everyday objects (chairs, fireplaces, tennis courts, and shoes), with his lived experience of internment and in the context of 1940s Britain