SOPHIA CHRISTIE
MEMENTO
The Anatomy of a Memory Pod:
broken
CONNECTIONS
CONTAINER/SIEVE
Trace (noun) :
a mark, object, or other indication of the existence or passing of something.
"remove all traces of the old adhesive"
Relic (noun) :
something kept in remembrance; souvenir; memento. An object surviving from an earlier time, especially one of historical interest.
"a museum of railway relics"
Specimen (noun) :
an individual animal, plant, piece of a mineral, etc. used as an example of its species or type for scientific study or display.
"specimens of copper ore"
TRACE/RELIC/SPECIMEN
Neurons with dendritic branches connect to other neurons via synapses. It is at these tiny crossings that our memories are made.
DENDRITE CAGE
BROKEN CONNECTIONS
'What a fascination the interior of the body holds for us! What a fear too! The human being is a paradox, simultaneously container and contained' . Chris Townsend, Vile Bodies
I first looked at the containment of memories for my work Metamorphosis.
When making my Pod Prototypes, it became clear that it was a central part of my work, as noted by Lorrice Douglas during a tutorial.
The idea of memory containers dates back for centuries. Metaphors and theories often equate memory storage with the contemporary methods of information storage at the time (e.g. libraries, museums, hard drives).
Metaphors also refer to a 'quasi-space', an 'inner space' which is like a 'wonderful system of compartments' (Douwe Draaisma). Chaucer writes about his private memory space as his 'celle', whilst Draper saw the mind as a 'silent gallery with silhouettes of whatever we have done on the walls'.
The containment of memories also reflects our obsession with capturing and storing information for longevity and our need for 'artificial memories' which exist outside ourselves.
I first encountered this obsession with containment at the Natural History Museum. Shelves of jars, preserving specimen, locked behind secure doors and hidden away from the general public.
Pierre Nora wrote in 1984 about a world which has become obsessed with collecting documents as if there is a ‘religion of preservation and archivisation’.
'We cannot know in advance what should be remembered, hence we refrain from destroying anything and put everything in archives instead.' Pierre Nora
It was crucial that my containers remained empty, colourless and translucent to demonstrate the absence of memories. As if they exist 'like shells left on the shore when the sea of living memory has receded' (Pierre Nora).
'The most interesting places are the empty spaces, for they are what will change' Joseph Conrad.
Containers were present at all stages of my research:
-The meninges of the dissected sheep's brain at Brain Day (up, right) and my tissue paper version below. It still had the impression of the brain engraved on its surface suggesting what it had once contained, but its emptiness was deeply symbolic.
- Pixar's Inside Out visually presents memories as glowing orbs. In the film, memories can be tinged with sadness, fade and be forgotten... falling into the 'memory dump' taking whole aspects of the owner's personality with them.
- Cajal in 1906 wrote about neurons as 'an island, entirely bound by its own membrane', a theory which was only confirmed in the 1950s.
My use of porous, flexible and translucent netting also reflected the filtering and sieving of memories.
Siegfried Kracaur writes about the filtration of memories and how 'compared to photography, memory's records are full of gaps'.
'A virtually endless number of reasons determines the remains to be filtered... An individual retains memories because they are personally significant'. Kracaur
'Our memories obsess us precisely because they disobey every logic, because we never know what we retain and what we will forget'.
Jonah Lehrer
In Metamorphosis, I created blank or uninterpretable objects to put inside each memory container.
This was in response to visiting the Natural History Museum where I saw specimen preserved in jars. It also reflected my research into memory metaphors.
Traditional memory metaphors suggest that memories exist like photographs or books in a library, perfectly preserving the original experience. It was interesting that my artwork sought to subvert this theory, by suggesting that in fact memories undergo a process of transformation. Whilst inside the cocoon-like memory pods, memories are filtered and reduced, erasing traces of trauma.
Interestingly, traditional memory metaphors were also rejected by Proust, Freud and Kracaur among others and it is for this reason that I feel it is important to not place images or text inside the containers. Proust actually blames sight for obscuring his childhood memories, suggesting that artificial memories in the form of images interrupt the recollection process, whereas senses such as smell and taste allow for more vivid recollections.
He warns 'It is a labour in vain to attempt to recapture memory: all the efforts of our intellect must prove futile'.
Proust did not trust recollections and saw them as a fabrication. Each time a memory is recollected, it becomes reworked, transformed, misremembered.
'
'A memory is only as real as the last time you remembered it. The more you remember something, the less accurate the memory becomes'
'The one "time" memory is the one memory you will never know. The moment you remember... is the same moment you forget'.
Jonah Lehrer, 'Proust was a Neuroscientist'
Rather than using fragments of images, text or film to show the process of forgetting and the remnants of memory, in Memento, I have chosen to display empty containers, reflecting the constant process of filtering and overlaying memories and the fact that the original experience is not preserved.
The lack of objects prevents the work from being too illustrative and personal and allows for greater interpretation. The viewer attempts to find the memory by searching the interior of the pod and therefore they act out the process of forgetting.
Although the memory is never perfectly preserved, a trace remains where the memory once was, which is how we are aware when we have forgotten something.
‘Yet what is forgetfulness but absence of memory? When it is present, I cannot remember. Then how can it be present in such a way that I can remember it?’ Augustine in Book X of the Confessions
This lingering trace is represented in some of my containers as a small remnant or relic of a memory (image below). It was important that it was made in an analogue way, so that the relic bore the marks of how it was made. Each relic is formed using glue and thread around a balloon. The balloon shrivels and shrinks as it deflates; symbolising the gradual decay of memory. Eventually the balloon is extruded from the glue and thread membrane in a final symbolic act of forgetting.
Michael Newman explains why analogue recording is better at evoking memories than digital methods:'The analogue recording is an index of what it records… it is produced by contact with that which leaves it’. The lack of permanence and fragility of analogue recordings add to their value. The material continues to have a nostalgic quality even if the contents decay or are erased as a trace or relic will always remain.
‘In this respect, analogue is like our mortal bodies, subject to ageing and desuetude’.
Once the pattern of dendrites had been cut, I was able to mould each one using heat to create a unique structure within each net container.
I felt that it was important that the connections, which would normally grow out from the neuron, turned inwards.
This reflected the broken connections between memories and the act of forgetting as demonstrated in the rat experiment in 2002.
The plastic formed a cage-like structure within the net; once again highlighting our obsession with containment and our attempt to trap or preserve memories.
Neuroplasticity: The brain's ability to reorganise itself by forming new neural connections throughout life, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury.
The use of plastic in my artwork relates to the term neuroplasticity. The fact that our brain is constantly making new connections and adapting disproves traditional theories which suggest our memories remain unchanged.
The plastic (Worbla) is malleable and strong, allowing me to alter and mould it using heat, whilst providing my fragile containers with crucial support.
The importance of the associations and connections between memories was emphasised in 2002. An experiment at New York University revealed that if rats were given a protein inhibitor at the point of recollection, they were unable to retrieve the original memory. Effectively the association between a loud noise and electric shock had been cut.
According to traditional metaphors, the memory should still exist, stored away and unaffected. However, this experiment proved that without neural connections, which adapt and change according to our experiences, the original memory is also lost.
I based my design for the plastic structures in Memento on a diagram of the neural connections of a neuron.
This design was uploaded to 2D Design software and cut out of Worbla using a laser cutter.
The plastic structure is reminiscent of mace surrounding nutmeg, which interestingly has a brain-like pattern when cut.
Threads in art are synonymous with broken connections, loose ends, frayed edges and incomplete fragments.
I have previously referred to artists such as Emma Parker (Stitch Therapy), Lisa Kokin and Louise Bourgeois who use thread and fabric to illustrate repair, alterations and transformation.
Louise Bourgeois' choice of medium is particularly poignant as it relates to her upbringing by re-upholsterer parents.
I used thread in my artwork Metamorphosis to suspend the memories at a height so that they can be viewed from multiple angles. Louise Bourgeois' use of suspension has influenced the installation of my artworks. Suspending the work adds to the sense of instability and creates a psychological space which viewers can enter.
The work of Do Ho Suh has also influenced the construction of Memento.
In particular, I noted the different methods of presentation used in his exhibition Passage/s.
His framed artworks were clearly intended to act as specimen or incomplete experiments. The loose threads show that he does not intend these to be viewed as a replica of the real object.
As stated by Proust, it is futile to attempt to capture memory, once framed it becomes a fabrication. Do Ho Suh is making it clear that he is presenting a fabrication of a memory, rather than an accurate recollection.
Whereas, his series of life size 'Hubs' which form the central installation to the Passage/s exhibition are immaculately finished without a single loose thread. It is clear that this artwork is attempting to deceive the viewer and transport them to spaces from the artist's past.
Rather than being suspended, the corridors are grounded suggesting they are based on reality rather than memory however, the use of translucent fabric adds a feeling of 'other-worldliness'.
Above Suh sews on paper through gelatin tissue which dissolves once immersed in water, leaving the threads visible.
The presentation of Memento is crucial to successfully communicate the meaning of the work and create a psychological space.
The work is suspended by threads to form a spider's web of neural connections. In contrast to Metamorphosis, a number of threads in Memento are cut, hanging loose to demonstrate broken connections and therefore lost memories. Visitors are encouraged to weave between the loose threads to immerse themselves in the psychological space and inspect the empty memories suspended there.