For the seventh iteration in its Marathon Series, this weekend sees luminaries from a multitude of disciplines descend on the Serpentine Gallery to discuss the concept of memory...
For the seventh iteration in its Marathon Series, this weekend sees luminaries from a multitude of disciplines descend on the Serpentine Gallery to discuss the concept of memory. Professor, author and scientist Israel Rosenberg will kick off the weekend considering the invention of memory, with discussions continuing throughout the weekend. With more than sixty experts and thinkers speaking for 20 minutes on their own interpretation of the concept, including contributions from the likes of Tilda Swinton, John Berger, Ai Wei Wei and Ed Atkins, we asked our contributors to weigh up the participants and recommend their highlights.
Nancy Waters: "I am looking forward to the big names like Gilbert & George and John Berger but the best bits of the Marathon for me are always those chance encounters with speakers you've never heard of before. I love Winnie Cott's talk description: Each fish is a pond full of fishes, as for the tree, it also is a forest... intriguing!"
Donatien Grau: "Urgent urgent must-sees are Lynette Yiadom Boakye, Etel Adnan, Jean-Yves Tadié, Douglas Coupland, and of course Israel Rosenfield."
Francesca Gavin: I recommend the lovely Michael Stipe who is taking part on Saturday evening. Although best known as a musician, his work as an artist, photographer and the rest is very interesting and I think he has something weird and wonderful in the pipeline.
Laura Bradley: "I have no doubt that Sissel Tolaas, the Norweigen scent artist, will be brilliantly informative and entertaining. for years, her extraordinary olfactive work has been connected to memory so I'm intrigued to what route her performance will take."
Chris Hatherill: "Seeing what Harvard astronomy professor Dimitar Sasselov does on 'Cosmic Memory', David Lynch's film and generally hanging out in this year's corktastic pavilion."
Kin Woo: "I'm really looking forward to seeing the talk with the world memory champion Ed Cooke. I bought Joshua Foer's 'Moonwalking with Einstein' – his story of winning the World memory championships back in 2006 – and was fascinated by his account of improving his memory in an era which is increasingly reliant on technology to do the work of remembering. Hopefully it can improve mine as well!"
Tish Wrigley: "I’m excited about indulging in a full repertoire of memory consideration – from the cosmic, courtesy of Dimitar Sasselov and the practical with Ed Cooke, to the artistic by Liam Gillick, and the unpredictable – the one and only David Lynch."
Siobhan Andrews: "My recommendation would have to be scent expert Sissel Tolaas on 'Sensory Memory' – something we explored in our last two 'Daydreaming' exhibitions by scenting areas of the exhibition spaces. I am also really excited to see what Olivier Castel and Ed Atkins create together, as I'm a huge fan of their work!"
Mhairi Graham: As a big fan of beatnik and 60's poetry, I am really looking forward to seeing work by poet John Giorno, whose words tell the tale of the Warhol Factory and beyond, and remain as relevant today as the magic and haunting poignancy they captured at the time. Demon in the Details is a personal favourite - the image of the dancing skeletons lingers in my mind long after reading.
Daisy Woodward: "I'm really excited about the Ways of Listening screening and talk. Ways of Seeing is such an influential book, and this sounds like an amazing celebration of Berger as well as an insightful documentation of his friendship with the ever-mesmerising Tilda Swinton. The opportunity to hear him speak afterwards is even more exciting. David Lynch's film should also be interesting – he's always one to amuse and bemuse."
The Serpentine Memory Marathon takes place 13-14 October. To win tickets, tweet your first memory to @anothermagazine using the hashtag #memorymarathon. Click here for a full schedule of events.
