Day 2: Memory Palace

Today we visited the V&A to view Sky Arts Ignition: Memory Palace. The exhibition  is based on Hari Kunzru's fictional story that has visualised in installations by 20 graphic designers, illustrators and typographers to create a walk-in book.

Exhibition handout. Brief of the book and the glossary

Map of the exhibition

 I really enjoyed the exhibition as I have thought in this way of remembering thing in mybrain by putting them in a physical place. However my thought process is not not to this extent! The exhibition also reminded me of an scene in Sherlock (BBC) as Sherlock had created a memory palace in his mind and was using it to remember something to help him figure out a crime. I liked the variety of ways that the story was illustrated from sketches with different line markings to interactive typography. I noted down some lines from book I found interesting and some descriptions of the installations I liked as no photography or sketches was allowed in the exhibition.

One of my  favourite installations was Luke Pearson's pen and ink drawings which were illustrations in small squares depicting the narrator in his prison cell trying to remember the past. I really liked the simplicity of them which clearly interpreted the story with a variety of lines, some where small scratches and some where bold markings.

I liked Oded Ezer's looped films which were screens of him destroying, eating, pronouncing ect. letters. I just liked the mixture of ways he illustrated letters. I think variety and development of something helps in Art & Design as it shows that they're many ways of illustrating anything. My favourite of his looped films were the letters made out of seaweed paper which he then ate and I also liked the compilation of Ezer's mouth pronouncing different letters. I liked the pronunciation one as it wouldn't of been obvious as to what Ezer was saying with out the other films so they all fit together. 

Some of Oded Ezer's looped film still postcards that I scanned. These were available for us to take.

My last favourite installation was the last of the exhibition which was Johnny Kelly's digital tablets, LED Tv monitor, computers steel, MDF, perspex and screen prints on papers. The instillation dispalyed 7 blank black screen prints, 10 illustrated screen prints that were filled with doodles of memories and one LED TV monitor that displayed visitors memories (sketches or words) that could be recorded  by 3 digital tablets provided. 

When it got to my turn to draw a memory my mind went blank and all I could think of is when I went to Southend-on-sea with my family and all the laughs I had with my sister. So I drew a bucket and spade by the sea with an inscription. I liked this piece as it was interactive and it gets the viewer to think of their memories and to maybe influence us to record our own memories in a memory palace.

I tried to reenact my sketch that I did in the exhibition on the online version but it was a bit hard to as its hard to draw with a mouse!