Location: Safehouse 1, 139 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN

‘Without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all. (Nietzsche)

Spanning the biological through to the technological, this exhibition investigates memory and memory loss. ‘Forgotten Thought’ explores concepts of memory in relation to our brains and nervous system, bodily actions and technology. Memories make us who we are, we use them to understand the world and build on them to help us negotiate daily life. Our interaction with our surroundings help us form memories, their embodiment confirmed through the physical object or digital traces. The ability to retrieve a memory or forget a thought is an important part of the functioning of the human brain.
Time plays a part in the production and forgetting of thoughts; the overlaying of memories redefining past thoughts and actions. We are also aware that memory can be fallible, we don’t necessarily recall things as they were, they are not accurate snapshots so much as reconstructions. Recent research has also revealed that memory is not a uniquely human attribute, although forgetting might be. Forgetting, is something we have also become preoccupied with in relation to our technology - the size and reliability of ‘memory’ has become an important feature of our devices.

Through the media of sculpture, painting, video, photography, digital art and installation, Forgotten Thought contemplates the complexity and implications of thought and memory.

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