“In
search for memory”
The
project undertakes the subject of memory as a personal and common experiences.
It bridges art with science and social issues.
There
are speculations that in biblical time the man’s age was counted by his memory
that comprised his own and his tribe’s history. This strong memory affiliation
absorbed the difference between community and individual memory.
Memory
was then the matter of identity.
And
what is the memory in the XXI century? What are relations between personal and
common memories? Is there anything like a common memory at all or just a set of
personal memories? Manipulated by media and brainwashed by constant flood of
information, do we have the memory at all? Can we detach from it giving it away
to documentary media or disperse it in the rush for globalization? How the web
of multi-personal memories constitute our (European) identity?
What
is my own memory? How is it
filled in and what is its content? What kind of reality does it create?
Questions can multiply….
The
project
was inspired by scientific revelations that the memory is encoded in the brain
as a spatio-temporal pattern of activity in the neural network and stored by
modifying the connections between neurons themselves. Recall involves retracing
the pathways through the network, involving specific molecules, activation of
different molecular networks and most probably it involves the DNA. Neural
networks may be modified by the rapid activation of many genes.
I
intend to record my neural activities and use the acquired material as a model
for hand-made three dimensional
objects made of sewing threads. These fragile compositions made of knots, bonds
and loops will reflect the neural network,
a physical track of a fleeting thought. By juxtaposing these miniature
sculptures with scientific records I would like to create a dialogue between the
brain activities and their tangible, sensual translations.
These
miniature sculptures will become
subjects of further investigations. Using scanning and transmission electron
microscopes (and other scientific tools) I would like to reveal their
hidden molecular structures.
The
acquired material together with the
scientific images of the brain networks will constitute the base for video works
merging micro and macro scales, the inner and outer, virtual/scientific and
everyday.
I
would like to invite the public to contribute to my work enriching its social
context. I would like to ask other people of various backgrounds to contribute
to the project by making miniature thread sculptures based on the model
of my neuronal network, expressing through them their own memories. In this way
their memories will become part of my memory. And my own memory will become the
embodiment of their memories. Their stories
In
this way maybe the common memory