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Optica

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Gallery 44

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ADAC

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Craft NL

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Editorial

This issue is about memory — how culture, technology and narratives shape our relationship to the past, and the material forms and media that hold memories. It’s also about the entropy, erasure and forgetting that erodes and overcomes memory, allowing new ideas, stories and cultures to materialize. Now is a particularly interesting time to consider this topic, as the material objects and spaces housing our memories, such as books, libraries, non-reproducible artifacts and physical exchanges, continue to give way to digital and virtual technologies that make information and memory increasingly immaterial, ephemeral and mobile, but also more widely and freely available. As we adopt the use of such technologies, there is an undeniable shift in our relationships to physical places and objects, to others around us, and to our sense of being bounded by time; this shift warrants serious consideration.

To understand the relationship between memory and space, it is useful to refer to an oft-cited text on memory: Ad Herennium by an unknown Roman teacher of rhetoric and compiled around 86-82 BCE. Expounding on the work of 5th-century BCE Greek thinkers, Ad Herennium describes memory-training techniques employed as means of memorizing long texts or formulae and essential to the teaching of rhetoric. Training one’s memory using these techniques involved establishing a physical or architectural space in one’s imagination that would function like a wax tablet upon which to impress associative images and mnemonic devices. This space could be a building, a city, or for some, the zodiac, filled with rooms or sites where one would place what needed to be remembered, and in the sequence the memories would be recollected. By replacing existing images and associations with new ones, the same space could be used continually to memorize new information.[^1] For this technique to work well, these spaces — often described as “memory palaces” — were ideally based on real places, and one moved through them at an optimal pace for effective recollection. As a result, vast amounts of information could be organized and stored using the brain’s innate capacity for spatial memory. This system also reflects a distinction Classical thinkers made between natural and artificial memory. Natural memory, according to Ad Herennium, consisted of events implanted automatically in the mind as they were thought or experienced, and which could also be located in a lived space and time. Artificial memory, on the other hand, had to be developed through training and the formation of structures for memorization, such as those described above. One could walk through these imagined physical spaces, recalling much more abstract information, just like competitors in contemporary memory competitions recalling the order of cards when presented with several decks of randomly shuffled cards- or recalling, as one competitor in the US Memory Competition did, the entire 57,000-word Oxford English-Chinese dictionary.[^2] Today, such memory training is largely an anachronism; with instant forms of access and retrieval, and endlessly expanding digital storage, space as a locus of memory has become a ruin.

However, our modern-day technologies for reproducing and disseminating information — print, photography, film, the Web, museum displays, gallery exhibitions, and so on — create new structures for remembering. Thanks to the myriad platforms and projects of Google, sites like Wikipedia, the incredible power of carefully chosen search terms, and actual libraries containing real books, one no longer needs to construct a memory palace or develop a complex system of mnemonic devices. Instead, memories can be externalized, accessed when needed, extracted and transported from their places of origin, archived and forgotten, or given life elsewhere. Such ways of communicating and incorporating collectively encountered representations gives rise to what cultural theorists Alison Landsberg and Celia Lury describe as “prosthetic” memories, where the actual and fictional accounts of others are assumed as one’s own and lead to shared understandings of particular events and histories.³ Prosthetic memories thus mediate and direct how one is situated in relation to collective histories. The positive aspect of this is that we can readily identify with and empathize with the experiences of others, giving rise to political allegiances that are not based on common histories or circumstances. The difficulty, though, as suggested in Carol Zemel’s discussion of Yael Bartana’s video trilogy _And Europe Will be Stunned…_, is that this requires a critical grasp of the complex cultural and political forces by which memory is mediated, and also an understanding of the consequences of our participation.

The Internet and social media platforms incorporate and arguably eclipse prosthetic memory, collapsing distances of space and time that cannot be bridged in real life into a virtual, often banal, and overly commercialized present. In her essay in this issue, Michelle Kasprzak looks at artists who use social media as a platform for their work, how it shapes users’ identities, and how it elicits participation. Many of the works she discusses experiment with the distinctions between the public and the private; individual production and group collaboration; and the representational and the real. When online, it’s often impossible to differentiate between what is real and what is not, what is past and what is present, and what is dead or alive- not to mention differentiating between experiencing it in real life and experiencing it on the Internet. On Facebook, scorned friends and deceased friends remain knowable and accessible, if not somewhat uncommunicative, long after they are gone from our real lives. Just as there can be no real death on the Internet, the sense of their loss is diminished, partially, at least.

In her essay, “When Social Networks Memorialize,” Chloé Roubert discusses Michael Arad’s _Reflecting Absence_ memorial at the site of the former World Trade Center in New York, and how it employs social media as a way of memorializing the lives of those lost. Roubert considers what it means to infinitely archive and make information available, and what might happen if we allow ourselves to forget. In a different way, for the artist project that appears in this issue, Toronto-based collective CN Tower Liquidation addressed the idea of erasure and forgetting. For the centrefold, they digitally removed the text and images from pages of the first issue of C Magazine, published in Winter 1983/84, and physically “dematerialized” the issue, preserving the remaining paper fibres and dissolved ink in a resin cube. As more publications move to online publishing, this work can be read as a commentary on the future of magazines, but it is also suggestive of the utopian potential of memory as the ruins upon which new ideas and forms are built.

[^1]: Frances Yates, _The Art of Memory_ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966).
[^2]: Joshua Foer, “Secrets of a Mind-Gamer: How I Trained my Brain and Became a World-Class Memory Athlete” in _The New York Times Magazine_ (February 20, 2011).
[^3]: Alison Landsberg, _Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture_ (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004) and Celia Lury, _Prosthetic Culture: Photography, Memory and Identity_ (London: Routledge, 1998).

Amish Morrell is Assistant Professor at OCAD University, where he teaches Criticism & Curatorial Practice, and Visual and Critical Studies.

Editor

Memory

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Technology

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the impact modern-day technology has had on art, the public art piece “Reflecting Absence,” by Michael Arad and Yael Bartana's video trilogy “And Europe Will be Stunned.”

Editorial: Memory

Feature

Writer

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International

The article discusses the 8th Mercosul Biennial, which featured works by various artists including Regina Silveira, Flavia Gandolfo and Leslie Shows, held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from September 10th through November 15, 2011.

Lands of Invention: The Nation Interrogated at the 8th Mercosul Biennial

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Film

Politics

The article reviews an exhibition of the film trilogy “And Europe will be Stunned,” by the Israeli artist Yael Bartana exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Ontario, from January 25th through April 1, 2012.

Rites of Return: And Europe will be Stunned

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Social

In this article, the author explores the intersection between art, digital and social media. Particular focus is given to the work of the Canadian artist Michelle Teran, who completes performance artworks that are readily visible to the public on the video sharing website YouTube. Several artists that are utilizing the social networking website Facebook are also discussed including Myfanwy Ashmore and Aram Bartholl.

Buses, Babies, Temporary Tattoos: Social Media and Art Collide

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Installation

Public art

The article discusses the permanent installation of the public artwork “Reflecting Absence,” which was designed by the architect Michael Arad and inaugurated in September 2011, located at the former location of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City.

Reflecting Absence or When Social Networks Memorialize

**Allison Collins** is a Vancouver-based curator, writer and researcher. From 2015–2020 she worked as Curator of Media Arts at Western  
Front, where she facilitated the production of new artistic projects. She is co-curator (with Patrick Cruz and Su-Ying Lee) of the 3rd Kamias  
Triennial, _Sawsawan: Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen_ (2020), an exhibition, residency and event series in Quezon City, Philippines. She  
holds a BFA in Visual Art from the University of Ottawa and an MA in Critical and Curatorial Studies from the University of British Columbia.

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Cities

Location

Art movements

The article reviews several exhibitions that were a part of the Pacific Standard Time series in Los Angeles, California, in 2011 and 2012 including “The Experimental Impulse,” at the REDCAT gallery, “Greetings from L.A.: Artists and Publics, 1950-1980,” at the Getty Center and “Under the Big Black Sun” at the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art).

L.A. Immersion: A Conversation on Pacific Standard Time

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Multimedia

Several excerpts from books and articles that focus on and evaluate art blogs are presented including “Comrades of Time,” by Boris Groys, “Curating the Time of Algorithms,” by Eli Pariser and Christian and Joseph Del Pesco and “The Invisible Dragon,” by Dave Hickey.

Noteworthy: Art Blog Roundup

Interview

Saelan Twerdy is a writer, editor, and cultural worker based in  
Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. He is the Managing Editor of RACAR, the  
official journal of the Universities Art Association of Canada, and currently works as a Student Librarian at Concordia University Webster Library.

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Canadian

Artists Books

Drawing

Painting

An interview with the Toronto, Ontario-based artist Derek Sullivan is presented. Particular focus is given to how his work is inspired by modernist design, conceptual art and concrete poetry. Additional topics discussed include his thoughts on installation art, how books inspire his work and how the notion of collecting fits into his work.

Garden of Forking Paths: A Conversation with Derek Sullivan

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Chris Lee is a graphic designer and educator based in Buffalo, New York and Toronto. His research explores graphic design’s entanglement with power, standards and legitimacy. Chris is an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo SUNY.

Designer

Publisher

Artist Project

Artist

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Conceptual

Publishing

Project by artist collective CN Tower Liquidation, in which they digitally removed the text and images from the pages of the first issue of C Magazine (Winter 1983/84)

Dematerialized C Magazine issue # 1 (Winter 1983/84)

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CN Tower Liquidation physically dematerialized the first issue of C Magazine (Winter 1983/84), preserving it in a 12.7 cm resin cube.

Polymer resin cube containing dematerialized copy of C Magazine issue # 1

Review

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Nature

Landscape

The article reviews the art exhibition “A People's History,” which featured various photographs by the contemporary artist Diana Thorneycroft, held at the Art Mûr art gallery located in Montréal, Québec, from November 5th through December 17, 2011.

Diana Thorneycroft: A People's History

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Participation

The article reviews the art exhibition “Melanchotopia,” which featured various works by contemporary artists including Michael Beutler, Danaï Anesiadou and Erik van Lieshout, held at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from September 3rd through December 31, 2011.

Melanchotopia

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History

Death

The article reviews the 12th Istanbul Biennial art exhibition, which featured works by various contemporary artists including Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Martha Rosler and Milena Bonilla, held at various locations throughout Istanbul, Turkey, from September 17th through November 13, 2011.

Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial)

Jane Affleck is a PhD candidate in the Cultural Studies program at Trent University, a part-time instructor at NSCAD University and a freelance writer.

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Readymade

Sculpture

Environment

The article reviews the art exhibition “Rural Readymade,” which featured works by various artists including Janice Wright Cheney, Adriana Kuiper and Ryan Suter, held at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), from May 28th through October 9, 2011.

Rural Readymade

Crystal Mowry is the Director of Programming at the MacKenzie Art Gallery. She was previously a Senior Curator at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (KWAG) for 13 years, where her past exhibition projects with artists Maggie Groat, Ernest Daetwyler, and Deanna Bowen were each awarded the Ontario Association of Art Galleries’ (OAAG) Exhibition of the Year prizes. Current exhibitions at the MacKenzie Art Gallery include “What the Bat Knows”—an exhibition focused on the storytelling role of art collections, curated by Mowry.  

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Text

The article reviews the art exhibition “Jump Cuts,” which featured various works by contemporary Canadian artist Laurel Woodcock, held at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario, from September 15th through October 29, 2011.

Laurel Woodcock: Jump Cuts

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The article reviews the art exhibition “In Deed: Certificates of Authenticity In Art,” which featured works by various artists including Marcel Duchamp, Urs Fisher and Sol LeWitt, held at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice, Italy, from October 14th through November 6, 2011

In Deed: Certificates of Authenticity In Art.

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The article reviews the art exhibition “Ineffable Plasticity: the experience of being human and Human/Nature,” which featured various works by artists including Faith La Rocque, Anders Oinonen and Mat Brown, held at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and the National Gallery of Canada.

Ineffable Plasticity: the experience of being human and Human / Nature.

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Collaboration

The article reviews the art exhibition “Paragraph of Possibility,” which featured various works by the contemporary Canadian artist Tonik Wojtyra, held at the Access Gallery located in Vancouver, British Columbia, from November 5th through December 17, 2011.

Tonik Wojtyra: Paragraph of Possibility.

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Mapping

Video

The article reviews the art exhibition “Surjection,” which featured various works by members of the Raqs Media Collective including Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta, held at the Art Gallery of York University in Toronto, Ontario, from September 22nd through December 4, 2011.

Raqs Media Collective: Surjection

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The article reviews the art exhibition “Background,” which featured various sculptural works and works on paper by the contemporary artist Sky Glabush, held at the MKG127 gallery located in Toronto, Ontario, from November 19th through December 17, 2011

Sky Glabush: Background

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Performance

Indigenous

The article reviews the art exhibition “First Law of Motion,” which featured various works by the Tlingit/Aleut multi-disciplinary artist Nicholas Galanin, held at the Toronto Free Gallery located in Toronto, Ontario, from November 15th through December 18, 2011

Nicholas Galanin: First Law of Motion

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Economy

Multiples

A review of the book “Commerce by Artists,” edited by Luis Jacob is presented.

Commerce by Artists Edited by Luis Jacob Art Metropole, 2011

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A review of the book “The One & the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context,” by Grant H. Kester is presented.

The One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context, by Grant Kester

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Issue 113