Mnemosyne aims to capture the ebb and flow of ambient memory collecting through discrete sonic heirlooms. It brings intentionality to memory making by capturing the peripheral audio of daily life and conveying it back as a sound object for the perceived eternal.

Through a wearable jewelry piece enclosing a small recording device, the wearable collects sounds in a passive mode or in an active mode when the wearer indicates a memorable event is to occur with an increased sampling rate. The collected audio is processed into compressed sound collages which reflect a significance to periods of increased memory recording and repeated playback. Borrowing the movement of tides as a metaphor for compression and decay of time, the “waves” have a stronger pull on distant memories.

Using a palm-sized conch shell and selector for memory making period, the user can listen to their memories with the playback system embedded in the conch shell with the intimacy of hearing the ocean. Shells are the listening vessel because they represent both growth and decay, home and environment.

The Space Between : Memories are lived experiences we collect, archive through tangible or intangible mediums, and relive through rituals of gazing, listening, touching, smelling. But sentimental objects are not eternal even if people perceive them as such. They face degradation, either through physical decomposition, wear and tear, digital file information loss, or artifacts lost to discontinued technology. Collecting memories becomes a problem when it lacks structure and does not mirror the way we process memories, through compression and distortion. This project aims to bring awareness and a process to cope with the finiteness of memory.

Designer : Roxanne Hoffman

Course : Digital Media

Instructor : Zach Pino