It was a spur of the moment thing and it was called 'Memory Palace'. Its virtually impossible to describe, it was a sort of walk in book, with walls covered in text, poems, quotes and artwork showing a story. I'm not even going to attempt to summarise the 'story' so instead i'll provide you with the synopsis...
'Hari Kunzru's story is set in a future London, hundreds of years after the world’s information infrastructure was wiped out by an immense magnetic storm. Technology and knowledge have been lost, and a dark age prevails. Nature has taken over the ruins of the old city and power has been seized by a group who enforce a life of extreme simplicity on all citizens. Recording, writing, collecting and art are outlawed.
The narrator of the story is in prison. He is accused of being a member of a banned sect, who has revived the ancient ‘art of memory’. They try to remember as much of the past as they can in a future where forgetting has been official policy for generations. The narrator uses his prison cell as his ‘memory palace’, the location for the things he has remembered: corrupted fragments and misunderstood details of things we may recognise from our time. He clings to his belief that without memory, civilisation is doomed.'
It was absurd, bizarre and extraordinary but truly brilliant.
What i liked the most was the text because some of it was so meaningful, but unfortunately I can not give you an example of what I mean because photography was forbidden (ridiculous). Well, I say it was forbidden, but I, being the rebel that I am took a few rubbishy photos anyway...
I got a few cool postcards for free which I could scan in but i really cannot be bothered and I kind of want to keep this vague because thats the beauty of it, the whole thing of 'not knowing', so if you live in London, go!
I'm off to Spain tomorrow but i'll try and blog again soon - got a few things to update you all with...
M x
