Myth, Memory, History (2010)
The installation was commissioned for the «Alternative History» exhibition at the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem.
The boundaries between existence in memory and historical existence have been blurred ever since the advent of "history." Ongoing developments in mnemonic and historiographic technologies (writing, printing, photography, etc.) meant that this discussion retained its relevance in every historical era. The Internet era also raises new questions related to the power of memory vis-à-vis the power of history.
The information presented on the flickering signs is adapted from search results in online search engines. The search is repeated in 3 different languages, representing the 3 major religions (English, Arabic, Hebrew). Every term searched is accompanied by a number attesting to its presence in the web and, consequently, collective consciousness. The personas selected are taken from history and memory, with the number of results for each persona varying not only from person to person but also from language to language (read, culture to culture).
What do these numbers signify? Do they represent historic validity? Do they testify to the historical significance of each given personality? Is it its religious or national importance? These names have managed to survive the ravages of time and become more or less entrenched in our collective memory. In fact, these numbers index the current "popularity" of historical figures from hundreds and thousands of years ago.
Much like any other dimension of present-day human culture, processes of memory and historiography are being digitized, democratized, and transformed in countless ways due to recent transformations in techno-cultural paradigms. This work directs our attention to the quantification of memory by latter-day agents of knowledge – the search engines – which enable us for the first time to examine historical significance from a quantitative dimension to historical significance.
Led Screens and Software Code.
