3,5 h

Performed at Aletheia Fest, Raasepori, Finland

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Concept and performance: Salla Talvikki Nieminen​

Photos: Salla Talvikki Nieminen, Magi Viljanen

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Description:

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Memory of Words explored the relationship between words and reality and writing as a from of remembering. In the performance I rewrote my diary from 2020 with an old typewriter following a set of rules I had designed beforehand. Copying the diary according to these rules produced a whole new text that contained all the words of the original text but in a subtly different order. As a result of the performance a kind of an alternative diary emerged: a new story of the same events, although using the same words. The rewritten diary was hung on a washing line as it emerged and the audience could read it.

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The performance was inspired by questions about writing and memories: How does writing down our experiences, conserving them in words, affect our memories? Is it even possible to catch time with words? And what happens to the memories when the words describing them are mixed up?