Memory and art

Memory in the art can be described as any mnemonic technique or principle that are used to improve recall, used in the invention and combination of ideas as well as to organize memory innovation. Although there isn't enough information to prove where art memory came from, there are a number of theories that imply it may have started with the Pythagoreans or the ancient Egyptians. Because memory takes on a particular set of feelings, pictures, and sensations, it has become an ideal instrument and topic for art and artists. In most cases, artists use memory to try and documents things in a manner that they appear exactly as they were for references to the future generations. These paper walls look t the use of the medium in arts and how they are used to invoke memory. The paper walls look into the works of three significant artists. These artists are,

Art shapes our collective memory in more ways than one. However, preservation of memory is at times quite challenging due to the tension that exists between an object development from a subjective mind and the object fact. For instance is a map is drawn from the mind, there is a chance that there are various other perspectives that may be missed. Artists have this fact in hand and therefore used art to give description and history about cultural and personal memory.

There is various medium used to invoke memory in art 2. These mediums are selected by the artist depending on the memory being invoked. There is various medium used, some of which are, cast sculpture, found objects and videos. Most artists use these three mediums to invoke memory. Some of the artists in question are,

Kara Walker

Kara Walker for instances rose to fame in 1990 due to spectacular ways in which her artistic work was presented. For instance, the use of sculpture to invoke memory, her work was a reflection of the horror that the slave era brought to the Africans in the south. The sculpture consisted of paper cuttings silhouettes. At first glance, the assumption was that the art displayed the simple life that existed in the south. However, the horrific content in the silhouettes displayed include vignettes, nightmarish that give an illustration of the American south. The sculpture and the drawings are used by the artist to illustrate the history of events by invoking the memory of what happened which can then be passed down to others people. Apart from sculptures and drawings kara walkers also feature sambos, mammies, and pickaninnies among other stereotypes that were filled with violence and sexual nature. At some point, she received criticism from the public due to the nature of the content exhibited in the medium she used; she used to invoke memory in her art.

With her painting skills, kara walker was able to revive the tradition history of painting in Europe with the help of another prominent artist. She used the painting to reveal the background and various aspects of both history and culture in Europe. In her painting, she reconstructed scenes based n the history of Europe, the Bible, and literature and made illustrated their relevance to the contemporary world 5. The views can relate her paintings to the history and culture of Europe by the memory that was invoked by the paintings.

The paintings are used by Kara Walker to invoke the memories of the racism that has been a cause of division in American for centuries starting from the slave trade era. Other division aspects of America brought up in her paintings are social inequalities as well as economic inequalities. These entire factors contribute to the massive division that exists in the social life of the Americans people since the slavery era. The phenomenon gives a vivid description of memory in the sense that the paintings are used to present memory by providing the basis of ideas or recall as well as mnemonic technique application.

Fred Wilson

He was born in new York and worked and lived there. As much as he was a talented artist and studies art, he lost interested in the creation of art with his hands. His focus turned to found objects. He states that he was more interested in found objects as they give him more insight of the past and invoke memory. According to him, found objects as the perfect medium and invested his time in finding objects world over. He, therefore, collects found objects all over the world and transformed them into whatever he liked. As much as he was a brilliant and skilled artist, he wasn't satisfied with that medium in the eruption of memory in his art. In the long run, he states that he finds satisfaction in walking with found objects and manipulating them to whatever he liked.

His artistic work is all about presentation of the memory depending on how he wants it to be. In various occasions, Fred Wilson was able to create exhibitions of the many found objects that he collected in various places. He created new contexts of the exhibition, and that is currently found in museums such as lighting, the non-traditional sound pairing of objects and also labels. His work of installations gives the viewers various recognitions of the effects of changes in meaning due to changes in contents. By his found object, he can make the history of America.

Fred is oblivious of the museum environment and tries to incorporate his work in it as best as he can by appropriating curatorial methods and strategies. He involves the memory of his views by presenting the history and culture in artist forms. For instances, he was able to highlight the slavery history in America during the intervention of the mine breaking museum of 1992. Venice Biennale of 2003 also had a historical perspective of the Africans in Venice. His focus was on the issues that were being comforted by the society associated with the difference in the race. From the found objects the concept of memory is illustrated in the symbols and objects that represent the history which n the long run simplifies the phenomena of memory from all the perspectives of found objects. As much as painting also seems to be a perfect medium for the representation of the concept of memory, Wilson resorted to finding an object as he did not want to make things with his hands. Therefore he represented the found objects in ways that he liked to illicit memory.

Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan is a known filmmaker who chose video as his medium of art. Over the years his specialization of films in art has been able to stand him out as an educative art that exhibits the concept of memory in art and relates it to real life . For instance, in 2006 Nolan produces a film on two magicians who had a deep rivalry in the 1890s. The rivals get to the tops and lose his edge. This play can be as a basis of ideas as well as tools for memory. In this case, Nolan also tends o send a message to his rivals in the filmmaking industry in a unique and artistic way.

Nolan’s work is very ambitious and has caused a steering the film industry due to his artistic way of directing the film. This has led to the reevaluation of their films in to match up with his challenge that is posed by Nolan’s style. His approach in the film is integral to the fans as he seeks to bring in the fans concentration as well as the aspect of his moral stance.

The technique in Nolan’s’ films that captivates the audiences is the use of escapist entertainment that suit the audience who have grown weary of prevention and patronization. With the nature of his films, the concept of memory becomes clear when the content of the film illustrates past events as well as their relationship with the contemporary world.

It can, therefore, deduce that the medium, chosen by the artists are related to the memory that they need to involve, the various mediums have a different advantage that the artists exhibited making them chose them . From this perspective, a Wilson was able to used found objects to make them into any presentation he wished in relations to past cultures and events. The same is the case with Nolan in his filmmaking.

References

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Hoesterey, Ingeborg. Pastiche: cultural memory in art, film, literature. Indiana University Press, 2001.

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Layte, Richard, Brian Nolan, and Christopher T. Whelan. "Reassessing income and deprivation approaches to the measurement of poverty in the Republic of Ireland." Economic and Social Review 32, no. 3 (2001): 239-262.

Talwar, Savneet. "Accessing traumatic memory through art making: An art therapy trauma protocol (ATTP)." The Arts in Psychotherapy 34, no. 1 (2007): 22-35.

Walker, Kara, Darby English, Saratoga Springs Frances Young Tang Teaching, and Williamstown Museum of Art. Kara Walker: narratives of a negress;[The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, January 18-June 1, 2003; Williams College Museum of Art, August 30-December 5, 2003]. Edited by Ian Berry. MIT-Press, 2003.