PROBLEM

Our digital interfaces have enabled us to be exposed to more information than we can handle on a daily basis. But they have also given us the tools to externalise it. We regularly ‘dump’ our memory onto ‘clouds’, drives and digital bookmarks. We allow our memory to atrophy and are in danger of becoming chronic scatterbrains. Yet it is only when we commit to memory, assimilate and disseminate information that we can create new links! Our ability to innovate lies within these links.

INTERVENTION - Work in progress

We propose to translate the mnemonic device of the memory palace into a physical memory PLACE. A place where digital data can be spatially contextualized in the objects and features of the space. The data-carrying environment will evoke unique sensory experiences and demand to be acted upon and morphed. In essence you can access, store, absorb & synthesize information by walking through, sensing and morphing your memory place. By tailoring your data you make this location your own memory P(a)lace, a place to come back to , to remember.

Through the engineering of interactive environments & objects we seek to re-introduce physicality and spatially contextualised information to our interface with the digital realm. These interactions will allow for an innovative process of cognitive embodiment in applications of education and learning but also as mnemonic assistive tools for individuals suffering from memory impairment or cognitive difficulties.

Our next experiment is an interactive installation  where visitors rediscover Somerset House as a 'phydgital' MEMORY P(A)LACE.

The concept has been shortlisted for the Althea competition,  Imperial College.