MEMENTO III

CHECK OUT THE PICTURES IN MEMENTO III (left hand side) PICTURES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES TO FOLLOW SOON!

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.

 

THIS IS THE FLYER FOR MEMENTO III (ENSCHEDE, HOLLAND.

The graphic design: Ewa Ginko from Poland.

 

WIMBLEDON STUDENTS DEADLINE THIS WEEK

A reminder to ALL WIMBLEDON MEMENTO STUDENTS your work must be handed to Sarah Catherine Gifford BEFORE the Easter holidays, ie THIS WEEK.

This can be done by contacting me via e-mail, blog or mobile to arrange a pick up time. I will also make a trip around the Fine Art studios tomorrow (Wednesday)in the afternoon for a collection of work.

Contact me asap if there are any issues.

AWARDS

WELL DONE MEMENTO III

The Nuffic "Orange Carpet Award 2011"

AKI in the Netherlands has been awarded this for the University who has taken the most care off their International Students. The Memento project was seen as having given them a warm welcome into the Netherlands. 

Particular congratulations to:
Rudi Bastiaans, Erik Kok and Marcel Vos.

(Founders of the Memento Project: Enschede)


Nuffic website: Netherlands organization for International cooperation in higher education.

WIMBLEDON STUDENTS

Esme Johnson

'I am planning on using photos of a memory as a trigger for making paintings from. I am experimenting with ways to manipulate the photos without any editing them on the computer but through processes such as taking photos of photos on a computer screen and through magnifying glass/binoculars, reflections e.t.c to create images which become distanced/removed from the original photo of the memory; to try and suggest memories through layers of time and change'

Faith Pollington

'I just wanted to give you a quote though that keeps coming bak to me:

"The necessary condition for an image is sight" Janouch told Kafka; and Kafka smiled and replied: "We photograph things in order to drive them out of our minds."

Roland Barthes on a conversation between Franz Kafka and Gustav Janouch in his book Camera Obscura'