Memory Matrix is a living monument raising awareness about the destruction of cultural heritage in the Middle East, while supporting the education of Syrian refugees and preservation of their cultural memory.

Photomontage of the installation at night, hung from the arch in front of the MIT Wiesner Building.

Memory Matrix celebrates the role of art, culture, and education in countering war and conflict. The project is produced as a creative collaboration of students - from MIT, to the Maker Faire in Cairo and the Syrian refugee camps in Jordan - to address the ongoing destruction of cultural heritage in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and beyond. Memory Matrix takes form of a giant screen made of a chain link fence carrying small Plexiglas elements. The elements will be laser cut in the middle with the shape of fragments of threatened or vanished cultural heritage. The positive cut-outs will become jewelry, which will be sold to fund student-led educational workshops with Syrian refugees in Jordan, Germany and Austria. The negative cut-outs will be arranged into a larger matrix, revealing an image of Palmyra's Arch of Triumph. During the day, this image will be visible through the movement of light and wind. At night, the illumination of the Plexiglas pixels will create a spectacle of light.

Memory Matrix aims to translate the records of threatened cultural heritage into new cultural forms, using new materials and digital fabrication methods. We take the 100th anniversary of the MIT campus as an opportunity to shed light on the ongoing destruction of cultural heritage in the Middle East and make this concern relevant in the world. Your contributions will help us to build this monument and generate an impact beyond its installation at MIT.

 

Memory Matrix - Reflections of Cultural Heritage

The individual elements making up the screen tell stories about the threatened cultural heritage in the Middle East, such as the recently destroyed Great Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo (right). The individual elements form a larger image: the recently destroyed Arch of Triumph in Palmyra (left).

Impact

Memory Matrix is being produced at a critical time, when cultural heritage is being destroyed and looted at an alarming rate. The project connects the expertise of MIT students to raise global awareness about this problem and benefit education of refugees. Millions of people in the Middle East have not only been displaced, but are also facing the destruction of collective memory as they lose historic structures that have been embedded in their personal and collective histories for centuries. We can bring the awareness and propel action for documentation and conservation from the scientific community, but we can only do this with your support!

Your donation would allow us to build this project with the benefit of connecting cultures through an artwork that will have an impact on the MIT community and beyond.

 

We Need Your Support!

Every dollar counts! We appreciate your support at any level. All of the funding goes directly towards the purchase of necessary materials and engineering to construct the installation including construction hardware, prototype tests, materials for laser cutting, developing the lighting system and constructing the installation. We also appreciate any in-kind donations (please contact Allison James aljames@mit.edu).

Giving

Donations are tax deductible and contribution matching!  MIT is a 501(c)(3) institution, and your gift is tax-deductible within the limitations of U.S. federal income tax laws. Many companies also offer employees a matching gift benefit that doubles the contribution to MIT. Click here to find out if your employer has a matching gift program.

The Memory Matrix Project Team:

We are a team of 25 very inspired, hardworking and motivated undergraduate, graduate students and artists from a range of disciplines, including Art, Culture and Technology, Architectural Deisgn, Computation, History, Theory, Criticism, MIT faculty members, cultural heritage researchers. See full credit list below.

Learn More

We are working hard to reach everyone who supports the protection of cultural heritage! The Memory Matrix team is taking the process to the Maker Faire Cairo where we will laser cut images of lost heritage into individual pieces that will become a part of the whole upon return to MIT. We envision this as an opportunity to engage with a wider community and to learn from many who have been affected by these losses.

Production Phases: The first iteration of the project will be produced during a workshop with students at the Cairo Maker Faire, on March 26, 2016. Participants will be invited to design cutouts for pixels to address the ongoing sales of the pyramids’ stones to tourists. The second iteration will be produced with MIT students for the MIT 100 Open House event on April 23, 2016 and will be on display until the Moving Day, May 7, 2016. MIT students will design outlines of vanishing heritage from their cultural contests. The third iteration will be produced in Amman, Jordan, as a collaboration between MIT students, Syrian youth and students from the German-Jordanian University. Subsequently, the project is meant to move to different locations, inviting other local communities to contribute to the project.

Facebook: Memory Matrix

Longer Project Description: Click here to download the project description (PDF).

Design and Prototype

Laser cut pieces: The pixels are laser cut as fluorescent acrylic elements and are hung from the chain link fence. Outlines of vanished heritage are cut out in the middle of each pixel.

Wind animates the pixels: As the pixels are hung from the fence only on the top corner, they can move on the bottom. In this way, the wind can animate the overall image through movement.

Chain Link Fence: The chain link fence is chosen as a screen material to provide a reference to border fences used to prevent refugees of entering different countries. The project is meant to transform the idea of a border into a gate - a passage that provides insights into the lives of refugees through stories of their heritage.

Installation: The Memory Matrix team will attach laser cut the pieces to the chain-link fencing. MIT requires a contracted engineer to hang the piece for safety and insurance, but the team will work with them throughout the assembly to learn from the process.

Website: We are also currently developing the project website. Global audiences will be invited to submit images and stories about threatened/destroyed heritage that they consider important to be included in the Memory Matrix.

Afterlife: Following the installation at MIT, the Memory Matrix will travel to different places, where other project iterations will be produced through educational workshops resulting in site-specific physical installations in public spaces. By engaging participants and audiences in various locations, the ongoing destruction of cultural heritage in the Middle East will be related to the concerns of global cultural heritage.

Lead Artist: Azra Aksamija, PhD, Assistant Proffessor, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology

Project Development and Production Team: James Robert Addison, MIT graduate student in Architecture Department (MArch); Seth Cimarron Avecilla, ACT Fabrication Associate; Nushelle De Silva, MIT graduate student in Architecture Department (PhD in History, Theory, Criticism); Kristina Eva Eldrenkamp, MIT graduate student in Architecture Department (MArch); Martin Joshua Elliott, MIT graduate student in Architecture Department (MArch); Dina El-Zanfaly,  MIT graduate student in Architecture Department (PhD in Computation); Lillian P.H. Kology, artist and lecturer at  Montserrat College; Caner Oktem, MIT graduate student in Architecture Department (SMArchS); Maria Roldan, MIT undergraduate student in Architecture Department (UROP); Kristen Wu, MIT undergraduate student in Architecture Department (UROP).

Pixel Designers: MIT Undergraduate Students from the Department of Architecture / Participants of the 4.302 Foundations in Art, Design and Spatial Practices Class: Abigail Anderson, Katherine Weishaar, Johanna Greenspan-Johnston, Szabolcs Kiss, Sofie Belanger, Baily Zuniga, and Kristen Wu.

Project Fabrication Team: Cynthia Fang, MIT undergraduate student (UROP); Ashley Kim, Wellesley undergraduate student (UROP); Goldy Landau, Wellesley undergraduate student (UROP); Melissa Martin-Greene, MIT undergraduate student (UROP).

Project Manager: Allison James, ACT Producer in Residence

Project Supporters and Funders: Offices of the Dean at the School of Architecture and Planning and the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, MIT Department of Architecture, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT), MIT Center for International Studies, Center for Advanced Urbanism, Division of Student Life, Aga Khan Program (AKPIA) and Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), MIT Comparative Media Studies / Writing, MIT Global Studies and Languages, Women's and Gender Studies at MIT, MIT Libraries, MIT Literature Section, Council for the Arts at MIT, SA+P Arts Initiatives, Alumni Association and MISTI. A special thanks to Le Messurier Engineering www.lemessurier.com for their very generous contribution of structural engineering and student advising and D.C. Beane Construction for their contribution of project management services.