Memoria (Memory)
Esther Ferrer
San Sebastián, Spain, 1937
- Date:1991
- Technique:Installation
- Descriptive technique:An installation made up of a modulable number (no less than 450) of open white envelopes with a vertical flap which unfailingly closes over the course of the exhibition. It has been conceived as a metaphor of memory and forgetting
- Dimensions:Variable dimensions
- Category: Installation
- Entry date:1998
- Register number:AD00898
This installation comprises a square grid filled with open, unsealed envelopes that close over the course of the exhibition. The title refers to the memory of matter, a property whereby, if the flap of an envelope is raised, it tends to return to its initial state. By the same token, the work alludes to the fleeting nature of time, for once a letter reaches the recipient, its message becomes the past, a memory. “The closed envelope is forgotten. Memory/Oblivion. Oblivion is the opposite of memory; you can’t have one without the other,” the artist explains.