Building a memory palace through video installation

This paper will reflect on the Ars Memoria tradition by establishing new knowledge in the way in which mnemonic rhetoric can be integrated into video installation evidenced through the significant 'Memory Palace 2017' (Wilson, 2017) installation. It will position these traditions in relation to the different ways of thinking about memory which will begin with the Greek place and object memory system and end with Matteo Ricci's late Renaissance Chinese memory palace. One of the key values in the wider Ars Memoria tradition was to locate objects and images into specifically imagined spaces which represented a cognitive way to recall memories through a categorised, cognitive database. These databases were established through specific guidelines located in several key texts that when considered shall first, inform a method by which the video installation can be later developed and second, to attest new knowledge in the ways we might ought to come to terms with the integration of spatialising memory through studio practice.