Art + Memory 2024

Memory is laid down through connections with habitat, local environment and each other. It is held in spaces between beings, often outside of human experience. Where and how is experience stored, and how do we carry memory, so fleeting and lasting? Against this backdrop, this exhibition brought artists and scientists into conversation to explore the human and non-human worlds.

From the earliest neuro-anatomical mapping of the brain’s neurons, to cellular networks which embody our memories, to the neural networks we are creating in AI, our memories define and will continuously re-define us and our behaviours. What is the interface between an embodied person and an AI? What is at the centre of AI beyond its function? AI is built back from purpose not built forward from something that is within an ecological system. What is an AI rock or bee? What happens when the power goes off?

Over two weeks from 8 to 20 July 2024, the Dunedin Community Gallery showcased interdisciplinary work from over forty artists, scientists and writers. For curator Pam McKinlay, the collaborations were a chance to ask "what it is to live in a world in which being human is not the most important thing." She writes:

The artworks in Memory and Mind explore how changes of state have left their mark across the physiological, biochemical and geological fabric of the planet, from neural networks to earth and stone, from earth systems to living biology.

The exhibition coincided with the Nanofest science festival. It hosted creative workshops including BEE Creative (PSP Curious Minds project with Jandt Lab from the Otago University), sell-out mahi toi sessions, Q & A panel discussions, writers’ night and the UNESCO City of Literature book launch of McKinlay's, Flows Like Water, a collection of writings from the past ten years of the Art+Science series.

The Art+Memory Project was conceived and directed by Pam McKinlay.
"Memory and Mind Exhibition" curation by Pam McKinlay from the Dunedin School of Art and artist Katharine Allard.