In a research paper delivered at the 2014 Public Pedagogies Day at Victoria University, PPI founding member Dr. Karen Charman examines through a psychoanalytic frame a Memory Space Project (2012) set up for the expressed purpose of evoking memories.
As Charman explains:
As an extension of my interest in learning that occurs outside of formal institutions, such as schools and universities, I have developed a conceptual practice called A Memory Space.
I have undertaken this approach in Sunshine and Fawkner. A Memory Space is a physical location in each of these respective suburbs where visitors to the space are encouraged to share a memory. Each of the iterations of this concept has resulted in curating an exhibition that reflects these memories. I am currently writing up these projects and theorizing what is occurring when someone shares a memory.Psychoanalysis can account for the emergent unstructured reservoirs and contours of memory. Occurring in a memory space is a re-inscribing of the selves that continue to inhabit places. Further, this paper suggests that a psychoanalytic attentiveness to space, psychic interiority and the relationship to the outside world can form a spatial and temporal awareness of place.
Click below to download the 2014 Public Pedagogies Day program: