Memory Matrix

Abstract

Abstract:We live at the time when deliberate targeting of cultural heritage has become an instrument of genocidal and territorial conquests. We also live at a time when new technologies can be used to document the erasure of heritage as it takes place and to restore it much faster than has been possible before. Hardly any other historic site has generated more intense public debate about these two issues than Palmyra. The impetus to defy Palmyra's destruction notwithstanding, the questions of whether, when, and how to restore it remain controversial. These questions provide the conceptual basis for the Memory Matrix project—a public-space intervention referencing Palmyra's Arch of Triumph—that counters the destruction of monuments with the creation of new ephemeral monuments engaging new fabrication technologies and transcultural collaborations. In the context of preservation and war, the Memory Matrix endorses the use of technology to form educational exchanges and foster solidarity with those who have been stripped of their home, culture, history, and identity. Preservation can be also about growing the positive aspects of human interdependence in the face of global problems that are affecting communities across borders, both today and in the future.