Fleeting (memories)

The group "Fleeting (memories)" is an exploration of the fallibility our memory. It is part of my doctoral research project at Hasselt University and PXL-MAD School of Arts in Hasselt, Belgium, which is funded by the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Hasselt University (BOF21DOC04).

Year:
2022 - 2024

Memories are fleeting. This fact gave the impetus for the following project. 

On the one hand, it is a visualisation of the fallibility of memory. On the other hand, it is a reflection on how the way we access objects can influence our perception of them.

The project started in Baltimore during an artist residency at the Baltimore Jewelry Center in July 2022.

For this work I visited different museums and I then tried to re-create the objects that I still remembered from my memory. 

Perception and memory are influenced by many factors. How concentrated am I? How is the piece presented? Can I see everything? Am I distracted by bystanders?

The project has different versions. Sometimes I look at the object only once. Then I return to the workshop and carve my memory in wax. With other objects, I return and give it a second or even 3rd chance. Sometimes I lock my wax carvings for months, trying to forget and then remember them. Each time I start a new object. I do not change existing wax objects.

The first carvings were casted in fine silver. Further objects remained in wax, or were reproduced in (remembered) original materials. 

The results do not intend to be exact copies of the originals. Moreover, they shall visualize the unreliability of (my) memory. It changes the world even when I try to focus.

The pieces shown here are reproductions based on memories of objects no. 57.1921, 54.433 and 54.432 from the Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, US) as well as objects no. 2022.79, 2022.84 and 2022.80 from the Baltilmore Museum of Art (US). The memories were modelled in wax immediately after the museum visit, then stored in a box for a year and finally reproduced again (without looking at the modelled wax objects).

Originally, I remembered many more pieces from my visits. The first wax objects prove this. But unfortunately, memories are fleeting.

Archive of Possibilities