Keepsakes - Collection Score

While preparing to move house I was sorting through my possessions and deciding what to keep what to throw away. In the process I delved into my “Memory Box” of keepsakes (some of which are pictured) full of items that are meaningful to me, but that could be easily discarded by someone else. Memories transform these mundane objects into something magical and meaningful.

The “Keepsakes - Collection Score” was designed to be used as a means to collect together information about objects and memories that hold significance to members of the group EXAUDI. The collected responses have inspired a series of short vignettes each associated with the meaningful objects and memories contributed by the performers - the piece Keepsakes will be premiered on the 19th May 2025 at Milton Court Concert Hall.

I am still inviting contributions to grow my collection of Keepsakes so if you would like to participate please contact me.

The idea for this piece is inspired by artist Joe Brainard’s memoir “I Remember” (originally published in 1975) in which he juxtaposes the banal with the revelatory, and the very particular with the apparently universal, to form a complex depiction of his childhood in Oklahoma in the 1940s and 50s and his life in '60s and '70s in New York City. He does this through including a stream of consciousness list of moments and tangents that are prefixed with the phrase "I remember".

Inviting the performers of EXAUDI to share and reflect upon just one particularly meaningful keepsake seemed an appropriate method through which to draw upon Brainard’s approach and sentiment, while keeping the content discrete.

This is the second piece I have made exploring memories and associated found objects as a source, the first being “Theories of Forgetting” in 2023, which explored musical objects from my childhood and utilised old audio recordings on mini cassette tapes made as a teenager using my dad’s PocketMemo Dictaphone. [Jan 2025]