In what ways do you feel that the “walk through book” ideas work effectively or not?
At a glance the memory palace seemed a mixture of text, illustrations and sculptures. It appeared to have no structure filled with works of 20 different artists who approached in different ways. I returned to the beginning and viewed each the exhibit piece by piece in order, some were easy to understand such as the acrylic print by Nemo Tral which meaning was clear and enforced by the usage of olympic structures that were ruined by a magnetic storm. However as I progressed though the exhibit the meanings appeared to be more vaugue entering the mind of the prisoner – trying to remember the past. As a whole the memory palace was impressive and I enjoyed finding the store behind the pieces of art.
Choose two pieces from the exhibition and make a detailed analysis of them
The first piece was close to the beginning of the memory palace, Nemo Tral has used acrylic print in front of a UV light box, this is composed over three various sized rectangle canvases, the picture is created with black paint this contrasts against the light showing through, it has a sepia colour scheme.
Nemo Tral
There are various narrative passages from the book it self, such as:
“Yes, theres something larger than me; I live in its ruins”
As these are read you are put in the characters shoes, alongside the artwork this creates a powerful image, as you see what the person in the book sees.
It fits in at the start of the Memory Palace book by showing the worlds information infrastructure wiped out by an immense magnetic storm, Nemo Tral has used the city of London to portray this part of the book. Certain buildings that we could never imagine in this way have been used, such as the Olympic Orbit tower, the Olympic Stadium and skyline views of london. These iconic buildings create a powerful image especially to residents of London. This does not remind me of anything particular except that the sepia colour scheme enhances the post apocalyptic scene and looks as though it was an image of the past.
The second piece was difficult to choose, settling with one dramatically different from the others which was by Peter Bil’ak, it uses purely type to show an extract from the memory palace book, which at a glance could seem lazy as the words are already written, however after reading those words, (which at first i believed to be paper but after the exhibition realised they where made from steel) my own views started to develop.
The extract begins with “When they took me back to my cell” this appeared to be a reason why Peter used steel to make the letters as metal would be like the bars of a cell. The next line “I lay on the floor, watching the jewels in my memory palace spin and turn, gorgeous and bright” this line for me made a visual connection with the piece, as the lights in the gallery shone onto the letters shadows where created in many directions, to me this was like light shining through a crystal but bouncing of in a different direction as the passage says. I liked this piece as never before has something so simple sparked so many ideas in my mind.
Why did he do it this way? Below is a link to a video explaining the piece.
List some ways in which you could be inspired by these exhibits, or the exhibition as a whole
The piece by Peter Bil’ak inspired me as I am used to thinking more parts equals more interestings, however this piece showed me that something a common as type can be adapted to an interesting work of art.
The exhibition as a whole has given me many ideas which I hope to use in the future.
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