My Place in Eternity

Oral Traditions with Dr. Sexson has been the single most important class which I have taken in my college career. Here we have learned the invaluable skill of mnemonics and the "art of remembering everything." This is a skill which has been somewhat lost and mutated in the technological modern era. It was an art form prized by previous generations but nearly forgotten in ours.

While distinguishing and revisiting childhood palaces, I have been able to learn more about myself. The storage of new memories inextricably interweaves with those of the past allowing my memory palace to attain endless possibilities. With Dr. Sexson's assistance, we have been given the tools to create and build upon the infinite wealth of knowledge. The effect is akin to gazing into a mirror which reflects another mirror which reflects another mirror, connecting all stories to one another throughout time.

 The pictures here are of Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Room, which gives the viewer the distinct sense of endless space.

Our stories are uniquely linked to every story which has ever existed throughout time. The idea of being connected to something larger than ourselves resides in the very fabric of our being and, now we are, or have always been and, now we re-member.
 

Dream House

So here is some elucidation on my "Museyroom." I realize now that staying up into the wee morning hours completing the project and presenting it coherently are probably mutually exclusive.

The initial concept for this endeavor came from one of the graffiti artist Banksy's famous pieces. This balloon girl is on the wall that separates Palestine from Israel.This image was created by Banksy as a way for people to envision transcending barriers created politically and psychologically. This notion informed the creation of my Museyroom: the idea that art can move beyond any limitations which are set for us. So I took this concept and ran with it. The clay girl which I created (fashioned after the Banksy painting) is floating out of the cardboard room, beyond the boundaries of imagination.



Here she floats up and away, beyond the stars and the moon which have fallen into the room with the dreaming bald guy sleeping on the over-sized couch. The puzzle pieces on the walls represent the detached memories which we all store inside of us just waiting for a hook to be fished out. I chose some puzzles with a pictographic alphabet to symbolize the junction between chirography and orality. The pieces are jumbled and disjointed just as memories become with time.

The entire cardboard house is filled with items which are memorable to me. I put them in with the idea of creating a dreamlike place. The furniture is much too large for the inhabitants. Items hang from the ceiling, defying the law of gravity. A green, squishy caterpillar as large as the guy in the bed, creeps out from underneath the blanket. The moon is personified and the stars hang down in the room with the guy dreaming of all these curious things. A mythical globe spins on a paperclip, created by Violet. The Star Wars figures ride on their Lego-mobils and duel with the bunnies.


Some of the items had been used in my previous memory palaces: the parrot, the hula-hoop, the multicolored caterpillar, and the tree spirits from Princess Mononoke. Totoro, another Miyazaki invention is there also. Miyazaki is a mastermind at transcending these boundaries of reality in his films.I also put in Calvin and Hobbes. They embody the notion of never growing out of your dreams. It seemed to fit well with the overall theme.

Before

After

These are some more pictures of the items in my Museyroom. They are all part of the dream: the flowers, cube, a book opening of its own accord, the frisbee, and a beach ball. Some of these creations are born from the real world, some not. This is my Museyroom, a dream house, located at the intersection fantasy boulevard and reality avenue.