The Caretakers

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BBC Radio 4 FM

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Fresh perspectives on cultural treasures from the cleaners who look after them.

In every museum and gallery, cleaning and conservation teams look after our cultural treasures. Here, they offer fresh perspectives on the buildings and collections they care for.

In every museum and gallery, cleaning and conservation teams look after our cultural treasures. They have an intimate knowledge of the buildings and collections they care for, yet their opinions are rarely heard. This series offers a rare chance to perch invisibly on the shoulders of these exceptional guides, noticing what they stop to consider as they go about their work.

BBC Radio 4 LW

The Caretakers: Episode 2: Rebuild

Episode 2: Rebuild

BBC Radio 4 - The Caretakers, Episode 2: Rebuild

Share the unique perspectives of Lilliana, Deborah and Lisa as they go about their work cleaning and maintaining some of the nation’s cultural buildings and collections.

In every museum and gallery, behind the scenes teams look after our national collections. They have an intimate knowledge of the buildings and collections they look after, yet their opinions are rarely sought.
 
Artist Eloise Moody has been working closely with nine people across the United Kingdom tasked with keeping their respective museums, galleries and collections clean. Every sound you hear in this programme - from brushes sweeping to each word and sigh - was collected and recorded by the Caretakers themselves. This series offers a rare chance to perch invisibly on the shoulders of these exceptional guides, noticing what they stop to consider as they go about their work.

In renowned sculptor Barbara Hepworth’s former house and garden in St Ives, now cared for and run by Tate, we join Deborah Cane, Conservation Manager. Having dedicated herself to the restoration of Hepworth's summer house, she reflects on the balance between representing and preserving what was once a home and workshop.

Working as a cleaner at the William Morris Gallery- a museum dedicated to the Arts and Crafts designer and socialist - we meet Liliana. Having rebuilt her life in London after fleeing Columbia twenty years ago, she finds her mind traveling back to her native country as she considers the artefacts that surround her. Haunted by a past exhibit, she considers what makes a home.
 
Lisa cleans at St.Fagans, a living museum in Wales where historical buildings are relocated and re-constructed brick by brick. As she goes about her shift, she shares some of the more unusual tasks that connect her to past generations.

 
Producer: Eloise Moody
Producer and Editor: Emma Barnaby
Executive Producer: Anishka Sharma

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

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The Caretakers

Episode 2: Rebuild

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