Memory

The art of memory

• Jack Williamson

Published:November 06, 2018DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30430

“‘I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes”Vladimir Nabokov

In 1950, while writing his autobiographical memoir Speak, Memory, the Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov encountered a problem. A master of fictions, the great writer turned his pen to the events of his life and began to consider the validity of his, self-confessed, slippery memory. Nabokov's doubts, however, did not concern his capacity for recollection. Instead, he considered the plasticity of memory—the phenomenon of our own brains glazing our real-time impressions with their own unique watermark, altering our perception of the truth of our own experiences. Committed to paper, Nabokov's memories (unlike in his own lifetime) remain fixed in place—unaffected by the processes of memory consolidation and recollection—where they will stay for the rest of time.

In Memory Palace, a major group exhibition to mark the 25th anniversary of the White Cube gallery (London, UK), curators Susan May and Susanna Greeves sought to achieve a similar effect by showcasing artworks on memory by key artists that have been featured in the gallery's past exhibitions. Spanning both London White Cube sites (Bermondsey and Mason's Yard), the exhibition explores this vast subject through the perspectives of over 40 artists, and has been divided into six themes: historical, autobiographical, traces, transcription, collective, and sensory./.../