The Collective Memory Archive
At Art Rotterdam 2019 we present the concept of a Collective Memory Archive. Five artists contribute to this concept from each of their specific backgrounds: Aaron van Erp (NL/PY), Raquel Maulwurf (E/NL) , Ruri Matsumoto (J/D), Man Schneider (D) and Jan Wattjes (NL).
In the 1920’s French philosopher Maurice Halbwachs devised the thesis that a society has a collective memory. A memory that exists outside of, and lives beyond, the individual. The individual's understanding of the past is connected to this group consciousness.
Artists visualize not what we see, but that which we know, making current events tangible and documenting this collective memory in an ever expanding visual archive.
image: Raquel Maulwurf, Night raid on Magdeburg 1944, 2018, partially scratched museum board, 152 x 152 cm