The Matter of Memory
Washington D.C. – Friday April 8th, 2011
Baltimore, MD – Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Baltimore, MD – Saturday, March 19, 2011
Statement of the Project
The Matter of Memory is an on-going project which investigates the relationship between memory and place. Using smart-phone technology to experiment with location and sound, anyone while running this app can record their memories or moments within a place of importance. Uploading that memory will allow other people within 100 feet of that place to be able to listen to it.
It is important to require the people participating to be within a certain radius of the place to confront how time and space play into our notions of memory and smart-phone technology can aid in this understanding further.
The following are screenshots of the application running on an iPhone 3GS:
Meditating on what precisely time is, and to what capacity we as human beings relate to it has been the basis of my work. My research and meditation for this application has led me to move away from the notion of a scientific time; a time based on atomic clocks and rotations. Instead I am concentrating on a personal sense of time, one that is based solely on a person’s own construction. Memories are often recalled and engulf our own present in what we consider the “Present”. But I hope to invoke a sense of reflection and to question the practice of linear time and of “progress” into the everyday. To also lay out the contradiction of the “Past” remaining somehow “behind” and yet with memories, it is always being recalled into the “Present”.
Implementing this technology in a way to create work has very fertile ground. Virtual applications that are accessible to smart-phone users (who are quickly encompassing a greater minority of all phone users) has the capacity for complex interactions. The visual creation of the way the application looks isn’t of great concern to myself; but the creation of the image within the mind of the audience is of importance as well as having the technology become a mediator of the experience. The way it encapsulates the majority of my ideals is letting go of the necessity to create an object, but rather to create a particular situation. An open-system that will allow anyone to freely participate at any moment.
If you are interested in downloading this application onto your iPhone; aim your iPhone at the QR code above and it will take you directly to the iTunes page to download. Otherwise you can go onto the iTunes store and search for “The Matter of Memory”.
I am now pushing forward to release an Android version only in the next few months. If you are interested in helping me develop this application, please contact me here.
(What are QR codes?)
QR codes are links that your smartphone can scan and return back information. QR codes can stand-in for someone’s phone number, a simple text about the place, or a link that your phone’s browser can then go to. In my case I use it to link to give people the option of downloading my application without you having to search for it on the iTunes store.
(How can I use a QR code?)
You can search on the app store for a QR code Reader, which have various versions on the App store and they are all free. Here are some:
QR Code Reader and Scanner | NeoReader | Semacode | QR app
Code available on GitHub!
The Matter of Memory | On GitHub
Application for Android users is currently in the works and will be developed in the near future. Please check back soon!
The following is an up-to-date map of all audio memories thus far in the project, each pin representing a place someone has recorded, below are a sample of audio recordings that have been left:
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