Mnemonic
Pori Art Museum, Finland, 2003
The exhibition called Mnemonic is a study of the nature of memory
and remembrance. It is also a comment on the scientific claim that
the human mind is not capable of having memories from early childhood
- referred to as childhood amnesia - stating that our earliest memories
are fabrications. The title of the exhibition, Mnemonic, is a term
for a memory aid. Mnemonics are based on the principle that the
human mind more easily remembers data attached to spatial, personal,
or otherwise meaningful information. The verbal or visual mnemonics
must have some connection to a person's existing significant associations
and images.
The exhibition space at Pori Art Museum was dominated by a large
panel made of white sequins - round plastic discs - that were constantly
flickering in a current made by an electrical fan. The wall was
like a tabula rasa; an empty surface, which in spite of its emptiness
produced a flow of constantly changing patterns. The movement of
the wall could be compared with the surface of water, ripples in
a pool onto which the audience could project their own personal
mnemonics. |