Memory Wall

memorywall1.jpg
memorywall2.jpg
memorywall3.jpg

In light of this year’s curatorial theme, “Memory Lane”, the Memory Wall proposes to invoke visitors to participate, document, and reflect on both the individual and the collective memory during the 12-hour-long duration of Nuit Blanche. The Memory Wall is a semi-transparent wall with two sides. The front of the Memory Wall displays the real-time visual information that is being documented and recorded on the back of the Memory Wall. Images displayed on the front of the Memory Wall start with a very low-resolution and a low opacity. However, people behind the wall who remain motionless start to create an “imprint” on the wall increasing the resolution and opacity of the visual image of themselves found on the front of the Memory Wall. The longer the visitor remains motionless, the stronger the imprint. If a visitor stays long enough, the visual imprint of the visitor will remain after the visitor changes position. This effect is similarly found on memory-foam mattresses. Additionally, visitors who leave lasting imprints on the Memory Wall will be documented and recorded in the Memory Wall’s own memory. Visitors can then access the wall’s memory and share their imprints through popular social media networks Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The Memory Wall hopes to invoke visitors to reflect on the process in which individuals recall memory while interacting with the Memory Wall. It is this duality in which visitors have the opportunity to reflect on memory recall and retrieval while also creating new memories to share that makes the Memory Wall a particularly interesting and exciting project for Nuit Blanche 2015.RAD-UM is a research facility at the University of Miami that has experience with technology, art, and architecture. The Memory Wall will be created using 155 modular “digital glass blocks” each consisting of an Arduino, and an 8x8 LED Matrix. The wall will have cameras on the back to record the live images while communicating with a computer to display the images on the LED matrices found in each glass block. Attached you will find documents and images of the glass block detailing the components of each module, as well as how they work together as a whole to complete the Memory Wall.