Déjà-experiencé – Pastness, Personal Narratives, Memory and Metaphorlessness Discussed Through a Practice-Led Research Project

Abstract

This paper examines how roles of memory, notions of pastness and belonging interact within a contemporary art practice in a practice-led PhD project. It aims to challenge generally held ideas of the functions of memory that are based on outdated metaphors and expressions, in order to go beyond what has already been discovered and search for new forms of expression. The importance of this research project lies in the hunt for an art practice that circumvents repetition of ‗the same‘, the expected, the ‗already discovered‘, deceptive or erroneous notions of the themes involved in my practice; an art practice that poses encounters and challenges preconceived ideas of how pastness and our experiences of it can be expressed. Gilles Deleuze hence serves as a key figure within my research; across his oeuvre he encourages experimentation, the creation of new concepts, the creative discarding of that which has already been discovered, and the disruption of dominant languages (2004). The paper will discuss various historical and contextual relations, before connecting to the art practice that drives this research project, and will reference not only other art practices and Deleuzian thought, but also photographic theory, fictional writing and a brief history of metaphors of memory