Memory Matrix – Palmyra Arch
Public space installation, participatory project series (2016)
MIT 100 Anniversary of the Old Campus, Cambridge, MA
The Memory Matrix is a temporary monument in the continuous process of building and dismantling. The project questions the ethics of preservation through experiments in future heritage creation, particularly in times of war. The piece deploys over 20,000 small fluorescent Plexiglas elements, or “pixels,” that are laser cut and incised with outlines of vanished and threatened global heritage sites. These outlines are designed in participatory transcultural workshops and produced using digital fabrication techniques. The Memory Matrix takes different constellations in various locations: the pixels are assembled so as to create fragmentary images responding to site-specific concerns. The project aims to enhance our understanding of common global cultural heritage through contemporary art, created through collaborations between students, artists, and innovators across contested cultural territories.
The first iteration of the Memory Matrix – Palmyra Arch took place at MIT. The pixels were hung on scaffolding and border fences to create a three-dimensional anamorphic image of the recently destroyed Arch of Triumph from the ancient Semitic city of Palmyra, UNESCO World Heritage Site. This great city developed at the crossroads of several civilizations in the Syrian desert and its monuments embodied transcultural heritage. The Palmyra Arch of Triumph was built in the 3rd century for emperor Septimius Severus and was destroyed by ISIS in October 2015, although some remains still survive. The Memory Matrix critiques the use of the mediated images of destruction, which were produced as a weapon: the arch only becomes visible through the movement of the spectator, and when animated by light and wind. The collaborative making process, which involved students across the campus, references MIT founder William Barton Roger’s political role in the American nuclear disarmament, as well as the MIT ethos of a connected campus that promotes collaboration.
Click here to download the project documentation brochure.
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Part of the Memory Matrix project series. Project produced for MIT 100th Anniversary of the Old Campus.
Materials: chain-link fencing, scaffolding, 20,000 neon-green acrylic elements, theatre lighting, participatory design workshops
Dimensions: pixels: 5 x 5 x 0.3 cm; structure: 9.5 x 10 x 3 m
Concept and artistic direction: Azra Akšamija
Research and development: Lillian P.H. Kology, James Robert Addison, Seth Cimarron Avecilla, Kristina Eva Eldrenkamp, Dina El-Zanfaly, Maria Roldan (planning); Dietmar Offenhuber (cryptographic heritage component); Allison James (project manager);
Participants: Pixel designers: Abigail Anderson, Katherine Weishaar, Johanna Greenspan-Johnston, Szabolcs Kiss, Sofie Belanger, Baily Zuniga, Kristen Wu, Caner Oktem, Martin Joshua Elliot (MIT students), Cherie Miot Abbanat.
Production: Seth Avecilla, Zachary Herrmann, Kalamu Kieta, Lillian Kology, Dave Olsen, Joseph Wight
Pixel fabrication team: Nasreen Al-Qadi, Ashley Kim, Goldy Landau, Cynthia Fang, Kristen Wu (installation fabrication team); Yvette Abadi, Rainar Aasrand, Dina El-Zanfaly, Momchil Molnar, Dimitrios Pagonakis, Veronica Salazar, Erica Santana. Montserrat College students: Tiffany Binger, Paige Hall, Christopher Giglio, Kurtis Lyons, Kenneth Sawyer, Maegan Shilkey, Joshua Viana (pixel hanging team)
Sponsoring: Office of the Dean SA+P, Office of the Dean HASS, Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT), Center for International Studies, Arts Initiatives of SA+P, Center for Advanced Urbanism, Council for the Arts at MIT, MIT Libraries, Aga Khan Program, Global Studies and Languages, Comparative Media Studies / Writing, Literature Section, Office of the Dean for Student Life, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Women’s and Gender Studies at MIT, MIT Crowdfunding, LeMessurier, D.C. Beane and Associates Construction Company.
Photographs: Dietmar Offenhuber, Madeleine Gallagher, David Kinchen, David Kinchen Photography Boston, John Eric Steiner
Special thanks to: Nadja Akšamija, Jessica Anderson, Hiroharu Mori, Department of Architecture at MIT, Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, MISTI, MIT Alumni Association.