thermal print on receipt paper, manually modified with hand sanitizer
557x8cm
*site-specific installation
In computing, the error code “Out Of Memory” (or “OOM”) typically indicates that an electronical device does not have enough available storage space to perform a specific operation as too many of the computer’s resources are already being used, resulting in it having become unable to function properly.
Based on the analogy of the human brain as our internal data storage device with a limited capacity, a customized “memory full” error message presents the similar situation of a neural data overload based on a hypothetical scenario without everyday forgetting as our basic ability of erasing previously acquired information. As opposed to its typical negative connotations, according to the so-called “Seven Sins of Memory” proclaimed by psychologist Daniel L. Schacter in his 2001 book, forgetting is both a natural and necessary part of the human memory system, particularly in reference to the concept of transience as our automatic data sorting system gradually deleting unused information in order to ensure an adequate functioning of the human brain.
Initially printed out onto thermal paper using a receipt printer as an equally impermanent medium characterized by a natural ephemerality based on the gradual fading of its heat-reactive dye, the final work displays an additionally modified version of the analog error warning—its visual information having been censored manually with hand sanitizer as well as through its installative presentation as a collapsing pop-up message—ultimately visualizing an eventual acceptance of the existent circumstances surrounding everyday forgetting through the active participation in this metaphorical process of physical memory erasure.
(2024)