Memory Palace

The Memory Palace was an exhibition at the V&A, in my opinion it was one of the best exhibitions I have been to because it made me think so much. In the exhibition we were not allowed to take pictures or even sketch- Perhaps this in itself was to make us 'remember' and use our memory. As I went on it made me think more and more. The whole exhibition was based on a derelict future where the information infrastructure has been destroyed and forgotten. The exhibition showcased 20 artist using different medias and different ways to impact the story. The installations and art pieces defiantly impacted the way I read the story. Typically we read the text before we view the image so I tried to alter my way of viewing and tried to view the design first. Doing this made me feel the same way the people would in this fictional land-confused but also intrigued.

There was many sections that captured my attention but the section which I was so blown away was the comic book section There was two in particular which really made me react. The first one made even myself question the importance of ideas. The illustrator Luke Pearson used digital prints, pens and ink to make his designs. His work was very clean, but black and white perhaps to show the lack of creativity this fictional land. Furthermore without creativity and memory the world would not be the same colourful place we perceive it to be. There was a certain scene in his thumbnails in which 'The thing'(rulers) held up a glass of water in front of the starving, dehydrated man and drank it in front of him. The thing speaks the truth when he says that ideas do not quench your thirst, and I even can see how this is true but somehow I feel like the Thing is lying. The other comic book artist in which I really liked was Alexis Deacon. His style of illustrating fit the story perfectly and emphasised the gloomy, grimy future place.

As I continued around the exhibition there was several videos that were on constant loop showing the relationship to text in this future land scope. The display showed the starvation for knowledge and text in particular. It also made me think about the link between text and our memories, without memories we would not be able to speak or spell and therefore this almost felt like a science experiment for the senses. There was a certain video where it showed pronunciation, this video made me remember when I was younger and had speech therapy and therefore stirred up memories I thought I had forgotten.

Coming to the end of the exhibition there was a section where we was asked to write/draw a memory onto a tablet, which would consequently be submitted onto a larger screen. What I write on the tablet was my childhood and my history. But later on in the day I thought about my most precious memory and I could honestly say I couldn't pick out one or choose one that stood out amongst all others. Even more so I began to think did I want to share my most favourite memory and I think I wouldn't. I wouldn't want everyone to know my precious memory because it belongs to me and as selfish as that sounds that is how I felt. Overall as you can tell I was rather affected by the exhibition and it made me think about my memories and the power of memory on society.