At the edge: Balnakiel,a video and sound installation by artist Shona Illingworth

Abstract

This article examines the analogy between film and memory through a consideration of Shona Illingworth’s video and sound installation Balnakiel (2009). In particular, the article focuses on up-to-date psychological views of memory as a spatial as well as temporal construct and on the role of the point of view in memory retrieval. Central to the argument is the link between emotion and point of view as contingent on memory as a space that we inhabit. Sigmund Freud’s concept of screen memory is revisited in the light of current memory models, drawing attention to the salience of memory perspective for emotionally problematic memories. Within this context, the cultural analogy of memory and film is indicative of the broader relevance of the moving image as a referent for the understanding of memory processes and the ways in which we affectively position ourselves in relation to emotionally disturbing memories. In Balnakiel, a work informed by these new perspectives, place and memory feature as contested sites of individual and collective recollection.

Keywords

Contemporary art memory memory retrieval traumatic memory space video and sound installation

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