Monday 16 May 2011

The curator's notes for the exhibition in London

CURATOR’S NOTES

Sarah Catherine Gifford


'Every passion borders on chaos, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memories'
Walter Benjamin


The development of photography and cinematography saw us become a visually obsessed society, documenting every event digitally instead of through natural memory alone.  In truth, how many birthdays has one had in one’s lifetime that have not been documented artificially?  Over time these artificial memories have become art forms in their own right.
Natural memory has long been just a platform or forum for knowledge.  But it has developed into an art form in its own right: an ability to retain rather than a source for retaining.  In addition to the mental act of remembering becoming a form of art, memory itself can be an artistic medium.  For similar to all other media in art, memory has the ability to document reality, no matter how disjointedly or inaccurately.
The work displayed here, the ‘artificial memories’, embody the one thing that natural memory cannot: a visual, the ability to share with others through images instead of words. Even when these artificial reproductions are not ‘real’ - such as the still image of a photograph or the impressions of an artist - they provide that important cue to remind us that the moment existed, and was documented: to be remembered.

 

Friday 13 May 2011