Memory and Forgetting

Project Dates: From March 2002 to May 2003
Project Leader: Tom Shakespeare

Funded by Arts Council of England and NESTA, a collaboration of four artists (Daniel Sturgis, Louise K.Wilson, Shona Illingworth, Ashley McCormick) and four scientists from the Universities of Newcastle and Durham (Anya Hurlbert, Madeleine Eacott, Martin Conway and Julian Hughes).

Memory and Forgetting was a Sci-Art project, in association with Northern Print Studio, which developed partnerships between visual artists and psychologist and neuroscientists to explore different dimensions of memory and forgetting.

The themes explored included:

colour memory
childhood amnesia
memory and the self
dementia and identity

Initiated after a grant under the Sci-Art Consortium scheme, the research stage ended with a Symposium in September 2002.

Following further funding, the production stage culminated in an exhibition of work in Newcastle's Hatton Gallery from March to May 2003. The exhibition was accompanied by

two artist talks
workshops in the gallery for schools
workshops in schools and with the Alzheimer's Disease Society
films at the Tyneside Cinema
a collaboration sci-art event called 'Music in Mind' in which Northern Sinfonia's Cobweb Orchestra played a piece of music from memory

The project received a range of media coverage, including interviews on Radio 4's Midweek and Woman's Hour programmes. The show then toured to Huddersfield and other locations.