Activity Paper: Deborah Aschheim’s presentation 10-26-11

Deborah’s presentation of her work was awesome! She first showed her piece titled “Neural Architecture.” Using hand-sewn bags, bath mats, bulbs, cord and other objects, Deborah created forms similar to what a nervous system looks like. The piece was in response to September 11^th, in which society became infused with surveillance and peoples’ every move was watched. Deborah posed the questions of what it means to be around machines and what it would look like if these machines grew a nervous system. Each installation was based around the five senses, where motion sensors were used to make the bulbs light up from human body temperature. She was interested in making the invisible visible as well as the interaction between people and machine. Through this, her work became art as research.

Next, she showed some drawings that were maps of her memories; everything from family members, friends, classmates, places and smells were mapped out. One drawing, People Who Are Interesting Because They Died, depicts people in Deborah’s life who died, drawn as red cells. The amazing thing as she showed these drawings was that some of the drawings were not labeled, and yet she could recite what each element represented, whether it was a certain person, feeling or place. The drawings were an exercise in showing what memory would physically look like; the theme of making the invisible visible comes up again.

We were shown a fascinating video of Deborah as a baby who is looking at herself in the mirror, capturing the very first moment that she learns of her own existence. Watching her reaction as her dad tells her that the person in the mirror is herself was quite interesting and the whole thing was profound on so many levels. I found it interesting that a machine was capturing this moment of existence and it ties in with Deborah’s interest between machine memory and human memory. They both can have the same memory, but are from completely different perspectives; one is artificial, factual, and indifferent. The other is emotional, lively and conscious.

Deborah talked about her work as autobiographical, but yet the work reminds people of their own memories rather than them focusing on her own feelings. Before she had said this, the very same thing happened to me. As I looked at her work, I kept thinking about my own life and how my memories would look as if they were on her drawings. The amazing thing about Deborah’s work is it not only makes a connection between her and other people, the idea of memory is something that everyone can relate to, thereby connecting all of us. Her work is not just an extension of herself, but also an extension of us, as if everyone was a part of it. This characteristic in art is extremely rare and difficult to pull off successfully and Deborah does this very well.

The theme of memory and memories lost or obscured is a fascinating topic for me. I am a nostalgic person at heart; I am always reminiscing about the good times in the past and remembering moments from my childhood. It is important for me to reflect on my memories because they help me grow into a better person and help me get through life’s difficulties. Deborah Aschheim’s work is a powerful reminder of the importance of memory for me and I am really glad I went to her presentation.