Memorando. A Workshop for the Creation of Digital Memories

Led by Paula Pérez-Roda and Víctor Fancelli Capdevila as part of the IX Artistic Research Grant Fundació Banc Sabadell–Hangar, Memorando. A Workshop for the Creation of Digital Memories addresses common issues and existing gaps in the digital world, aiming to foster new (and sovereign?) relationships with digital memory and transform them into a flourishing experience.

In the first part of the workshop, we will discuss how we are entangled in digitization and permanent connectivity, exploring how the digital infrastructure that colonizes our data is structured. This infrastructure capitalizes on our relationships with others, appropriating our digital production, which is stored on proprietary platforms. In the second part, we will explore the idea that a digital archive can be something more: memory—including digital memory—can operate as both gleaning and sowing. From these materials, documentations, voices, and collections can emerge, allowing for new audiovisual, verbal, and literary narratives about the past.

The cloud-based model for storing and accessing memories and documents has gained popularity thanks to the promise of a “digital archive”—a place where documents, information, and materials from our personal or collective projects are stored effortlessly. However, these platforms take ownership of the materials, retaining all rights—particularly exploitation rights—without assuming any responsibility. They can delete or modify data without notifying users. What these platforms actually offer is an automated “promotion of the so-called memorable,” which is highly curated and limited to a partial selection of images, videos, or audios, according to their own interests. This workshop proposes alternative ecological scenarios and collective guidelines for redesigning memory in response to excessive storage and the role memory plays within communities.

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Víctor Fancelli Capdevila works as a digital archivist at the Karlsruhe University of Art and Design and develops, together with Lisa Deml and Nathalia Lavigne, the After Memory project, which seeks to reflect on the relationship between memory and digitality. He investigates alternative digital pedagogies and the techno-social relations that are established around the digital infrastructure. He is part of the organization of SobTec, the Congress of Technological Sovereignty of Barcelona.

Practical Information
Time: 11 am to 5 pm
Day: Saturday, October 12th
Venue: Sala Ricson, Hangar
Free activity. For registration, please fill this form

Image: Victor Fancelli Capdevila

With the support of: