memento by hillmannregett from germany

We are constantly writing our own digital memoirs by using email and social-networks, supported and co-written by our friends. What we'll possess at life's end is a complete digital copy of our life. By means of an individually encoded program personal data is filtered and systematized, allowing one to personalize and decide the shape of one's memorial object. Each individual object is unique in form, shaped by one's history. 



Shape:

Memento transforms digital heritage into physical objects, as a representation of the data. The form is inspired by the phenomenon of erosion. Over the course of time traces are washed into the stone that tell the stories of the past. A program supplied with the email correspondence of the deceased takes the role of the „editor“, filtering the data that was written throughout the person’s life. It organizes the information into four fields: professional social, emotional, and geographical. The program filters by comparing the information with wordlists for semantic correlations and analyses the meaning of the different fields quantitatively over the course of time. This information generates the unique sculptural relief for each individual. A CNC mill transposes the generative form into a casting mold for the concrete block or directly into a wood relief. Memento unites the traces of the individual for a „small“ eternity in a concrete object. 



Context:
Forms and spaces of mourning are changing: life in a highly mobile society; the increased emphasis on individuality; our multifaceted relationships to God, nature, and science, as well as the internet itself demand changes in the memorial culture. We constantly find new forms of expression of this changing culture in the digital realm. But they can rarely substitute for the real places and their atmospheric complexities. The grave as the site of commemoration still plays an important role. The Memento concept combines both worlds, taking into account the interests of the deceased as well as of the bereaved. The individuality of the single life should be preserved also in death. The mementos of remembrance that we are left with by the deceased give a testimony of this uniqueness. The object becomes a personal object of remembrance for the spectator. The object and the information stored in it are trigger and key to the memories of the spectator. 


Also in modern society not everyone has the possibility to visit a traditional place of mourning such as a cemetery. This memorial stone can represent the memory of the deceased in different places as it is easily reproducible, because of how it is produced. Since it is not restricted to the cemetery, the bereaved have the opportunity to choose the place of remembrance. The object does not only function as the classic symbol of loss, it also represents the key to the digital heritage of the deceased. It functions as a portal to the information that has determined the stone’s form locally, via the internet or a smartphone. As such the memorial stone turns into a space of encounter for the bereaved.
In this community we can find alleviation of our grief.