The Art of Memory: An Introduction to Memory Culture

This course looks at a variety of interesting ways in which we remember people and events. By analysing famous, controversial, and obscure examples, we examine the impact of memorial culture on society and why it remains so relevant to us. Case studies include the new 9/11 Memorial, the remnants of The Berlin Wall, an invisible Holocaust monument, the political murals of West Belfast, and the Graveyard of the Fallen Monuments, Moscow. We also explore memory culture’s extraordinary devices in places where there is little or nothing left to see, such as the battlefield at Waterloo, and how Van Gogh resonates in Arles and other French towns. Unexpected public responses, such as the leaving of personal items at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial and the playful reception of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, is also included, along with the mnemonic projects of verisimilitude artist Marcus Cactus.

Questions raised in this course include: Who are such monuments for? What do memorials tell us about national identity? Is the figurative monument now obsolete in the face of abstract works? What is the most effective way to deal with the burden of memory? Is the experience-based design the most authentic? Is remembering also a form of forgetting?

This course provides an introduction to Theodor Adorno, Andreas Huyssen, and James Young, all of whom have written extensively on memorial culture and memory tourism.

Studying the ways in which we remember – be it plaques, tombstones, monuments, or statues – is an opportunity to analyse our continued need to commemorate the past and to question the effectiveness of such markers and what they represent. It is an inescapable yet often misunderstood part of our culture.

The 3-part course, taught by me, is £35.00 and you can enrol now via South Thames College, either in person or by calling 020-8918-7777.