Mnemonic Archive
2020 ~ Ongoing
The Mnemonic Archive is a narrative space where participants provide geological clues through one-on-one interviews and interactions. It is a qualitative research method designed to create a unique social artifact: a map that reveals the intersecting locations of significant events in their lives. Unlike a linear memory archive, each case aims to unearth history that has remained buried for decades or years, emerging, unraveling, and revealing itself with geological evidence.
The project utilizes both space—the virtual space of its inscription—and time—the specific time required for its parsing by the mind. Space and time are the fundamental media of signification that can be considered a semiotic hyperobject* discovered through our interactions in response to the ever-evolving technology landscape, all under the oversight of humanity.
*Hyperobjects. Timothy Morton employed the term hyperobjects to describe objects that are so massively distributed in time and space as to transcend spatiotemporal specificities, such as global warming, styrofoam, and radioactive plutonium.
Mnemonic Archive, Ponce (2020)
Mnemonic Archive, Jeongeup (2021)
Mnemonic Archive, Chicago (2022)
Mnemonic Archive, Isle of Palms (2020)
Mnemonic Archive, Arizona (2023)
Mnemonic Archive, Peru (2023)
Mnemonic Archive, Reykjavik (2022)
Mnemonic Archive, Romania (2022)
001. Marie Rios (1944~)
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Lives in Danville, Virginia
002. Jongyeol Lee (1942~)
Born in Jeonju, South Korea
Lives in Paju, South Korea
003. Rosemary Love (1956~)
Born in Chicago, U.S.
Lives in Cortlandt Manor, NY, U.S.
004. Skip (1942~)
Born in North Carolina, U.S.
Lived in Washington D.C. U.S.
005. Jerry Salvatore (1958~)
Born in Phoenix, U.S.
Lives in Cortlandt Manor, NY, U.S.
006. Rafael Rodriguez (1953~)
Born in Lima, Peru
Lives in Bronx, NY, U.S.
007. Einar Jóhannsson (1962~)
Born in Reykjavik, Iceland
Lives in Maine, U.S.
008. Ione Harewood (1944~)
Born in St.Philip, Barbados
Lives in Bronx, NY, U.S.
009. Rubin (1964~)
Born in Sibiu, Romania
Lives in NY, U.S.
This workshop utilizes archeological methodologies. Individuals will excavate cultural history, memory, and preservation. Furthermore, these collective memories from diverse individuals within a confined place constitute a new fictional world. Access to this world lies in its relation to, rather than its representation of, the real world. The purpose of this workshop is to turn space into a metaphor for time. A map* of the participants' shared geographies will form a forensic artifact that can generate significance through narrative clues.
*The map is a work in progress.
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