The Mill Yard project is a dynamic memorial in the city of Berlin, NH. This is a memorial to a site, a period of time, a group of people, and a collective history but it is also a reflection on the future and the goals of the community. In many ways this is a project for Berlin. The project will capture this moment of change, when the city's largest employer, the paper mill, has closed and will be demolished.

Local residents will be interviewed and and asked to discuss their current feelings, hopes for the future, and memories about the mill and the city. Audio recordings of statments from these interviews will be mapped to GPS coordinates in the 121 arces of land that used to be occupied by the paper mill. After the demolition of the mill, residents and other participants will be able to hear the stories by walking through the field at the former site of the mill wearing headsets equipped with GPS receivers. Entering a predetermined GPS point in the field will trigger an audio narrative.

Additionally, before exiting the site, visitors will be encouraged to reach into a vat of wet paper pulp. The pulp is soft, cloudlike, and produces a unique tactile experience. Grabbing a handful of pulp, participants will squeeze all of the water out, leaving the negative impression of the inside of their fists. These imprints will be placed in a pile and around the site. This process is one of state transformation, tension and release and is also a way for each visitor to leave a their own mark.

 As particpants walk around the site, each will have a unique and personal reflective experience that takes place in a communal and public environment.

This project will last approximately two weeks.