In our first week we were asked to bring in an item that resembled to us a collection/collectable. At first thought I didn’t think I owned a collection, and it wasn’t until I scanned my room that I realised I did in fact own a collection of tickets and wristbands from previous festivals, trips and events I had been to over the years. After presenting each of our collections to the class we had to think about what sphere our collectables belonged to out of the following; domestic, nationhood, a sense of belonging, identifying a concept, or a marking of time, place, and ownership. My collection fell into the belonging sphere as it identifies my festival/music subculture and interest in travelling as something that represents who I am, as well as marking time, place and ownership.
Returning home I realised my collection was a lot bigger than it originally seemed and it made me realise that to some people my collection could be seen as hoarding tatty old tickets and memorabilia, for no real purpose but to symbolise memories. It made me question how did my collection begin? What was the point of collecting such items? And at what point would my collection be seen as complete? Or was it just an on-going process? These questions arouse as I visited the Usher Gallery and Collection where belongings of James Usher were presented, each with their own descriptive explanation, allowing the spectator the freedom to choose whether to believe what is in front of them as truth or simply fiction. At first glance the collections seemed meaningless, however when I looked closely I noticed each item had a different story to tell, with only part of it was told through its explanation. It made me realise it was down to the curator to create the collection and then over to the spectator to give the collection depth and develop a story from within. As Sue Palmer comments ‘it’s not just about a place, but the people who normally inhabit and use that place. For it wouldn’t exist without them’ (Palmer, 2010). For this to be successful the curator has to present the items appropriately in the correct location and give enough significant knowledge for each object, so that the spectator becomes fascinated and feels connected to the item, for as Susan Bennett quotes ‘museums are theatre, a memory palace, staging enactment of other times and places, a space of transport, fantasy, dreams’ (Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, 2013). They allow the visitor to escape from the present and enter a past that they can somewhat relate to. They enable stories to be told through silence, delivering education in exciting and enticing ways, adopting performance strategies that evoke a different experience upon each spectator.
After the visit to the gallery I created an installation of my collection, allowing others to create their own story to my memorabilia, whether it continue to be a personal tale of re-visiting the past or one of complete imagination helped by experience, collections continue to trigger in some aspect a history, a memory, a place or a time in our lives.
Memory, places, time
Works Cited
Bennett, S (2013) Theatre & Museums. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Pearson, M (2010) Site Specific Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Rice, K (2014) Memory, places, time (February 2014)