MEMORY LAUNDERING

INSTALLATION, 2015

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGNGOAT (US AND IE)

What if you could alter your traumatic memories? Episodic memory — the memory that captures your ‘what, where, when’ moments — is complex. Every time you recall something, you’re pulling information from different regions of your brain, all combining to reconstruct what happened and how you felt about it. But when you recall something, you’re not replaying the original recording — it’s more like an artist’s impression of the last time you recalled it. Each time you recall it, that memory is altered — moulded by how you’re feeling or what you’re doing at the time. That’s because the brain is a living circuit and its neurons can form new connections all the time. This happens without us knowing it.

Currently, researchers are trying to understand the fundamental nature of memory by programming brain cells to respond to light, allowing them to target particular memories by shining lasers into the brain. The Tonegawa Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have shown that it’s possible to create false memories, change a traumatic memory into a happy one, and retrieve a memory that has been forgotten. They’ve only done this with mice so far, but in a future where we will likely be able to edit human memories, should we?

MEMORY LAUNDERING invites visitors to share their memories — good and bad — and to explore what can happen to them over time.

BIO:

MEMORY LAUNDERING would not have been possible without Susumu Tonegawa, Tomas Ryan and the team at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at MIT. designgoat are designers and makers, who create experiences with products, spaces, furniture and food. They work with local and international start-ups and established businesses as well as doing private commissions. Their clients include 3FE Coffee, Brother Hubbard, BellX1, Marco, Indigo & Cloth, Thinkhouse PR, The Irish Architecture Foundation, Jameson, The Royal Dublin Society, Bodytonic, Chapter One, National College of Art and Design, the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital, the Crafts Council of Ireland, Designist and Pablo Picante.