London – Memory Palace charts momentous events from the first cave markings to Greta Thunberg’s climate strike.
Created by artist and set designer Es Devlin for the Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in London, the installation is an 18-metre-wide topographical model of a landscape, which maps iconic events in history in chronological order. Such events include the discovery of homo sapiens' first cave markings in Africa, the first heliocentric map of the universe, and the location where Greta Thunberg began her school strike in 2018.
The installation takes inspiration from a mnemonic technique originating in ancient Greece that uses visualisation of physical locations in order to activate memories and recall information. The memories chosen by Devlin are from the past 75,000 years, with the piece designed to ‘invoke our collective memories’ and inspire debate.
Working to shed light on the possibilities of the human species, Devlin is examining how we live in a Dislocated World, encouraging visitors to re-evaluate the history of humanity.