Museum of Things I Want to Forget
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Nietzsche said, 'Without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all.' Yet, the tension remains: between the desire to forget, and the instinct that you cannot, should not or do not want to forget.
// thingsiwanttoforget.com //
Through this project we investigate memory and its relation to life by inviting people to forget. We see forgetting not in simplistic terms of complete erasure to a blank slate, but rather the mind consciously reframing past, present and future. A process of meditation is initiated. This Museum of "forgotten" memories is an archive of the experiences we think we want to let go. How are personal histories individually and collectively curated?
Many of us try to forget in our own ways everyday- from petty grudges, unintended mistakes, human flaws, to deep personal sufferings. Scientists are researching ways to manipulate, re-wire or fade memories, using drugs and psychotherapy. However, in order to begin any process of forgetting, these patients must first voluntarily identify and intensely recall the very experiences they want to forget.
This Museum offers a site for that hopeful process, and we are inviting you to be part of this experiment. This is not a call for amnesia; instead it is an acknowledgment that with greater attention to how individual and collective memories are shaped, we can change our relationship to history, present, and future.
Submissions
We are looking for electronic contributions of things you want to forget- despite any instinct that you cannot, should not or do not want to.
We will archive them in the Museum, erasing traces of their origins in the hope that they may find release. They can be: your written accounts; voice recordings; photographs, drawings or images of any form.
For voice recordings and images, please send in a note or account of less than 100 words. Please limit written accounts to 300 words.
We offer no guarantees or refunds but an exchange. In return for every contribution, we will personally craft and post you another anonymously contributed artifact from the Museum, one that we hope speaks to your own desires and will aid in your process of renewal. This is optional; we could also leave you alone.
Please send the Things You Want to Forget to [email protected], with your snail mail address (optional). By participating, you are allowing us to reproduce the contributed material in any form -in print, film, online, or any other form- for the purposes of this project. Major edits will be checked with you before publication.
We look forward to your contribution. Here's to excavations, burials and renewal.
Sincerely,
Museum Archaeologists