Camillo Memo 4.0: CABINET OF TEARS
director: Emil Hrvatin
tear-jerking campaign
September 28 at 7 p.m. – initiation
September 29 to October 3 – Slovenian Theater Museum
Production: B 51
Co-production: Zavod Exodos and TV Slovenija - art program.
In cooperation with: Ljudmila – Ljubljana Digital Media Laboratory.
As part of the international performing arts festival Exodos
The Cabinet of Memories project originates from the ideas of the rediscovered Renaissance genius, philosopher, theorist of the art of memory, herald of the language of installation in contemporary art and anticipator of the Internet, Giulio Camillo (1480-1544). His seminal project, Theater of Memory, is one of the first attempts at online interactive communication. The Theater of Memory was intended as a place where all knowledge about the Universe would be accessible. A constantly renewing memory machine in which there are no boundaries between past, present and future.
The Cabinet of Memories explores the emotional relationship to memory and focuses on the extreme manifestation of emotional states - crying.
The viewer travels through three spaces: the space of individual, collective and physiological memory. The only thing all three spaces have in common is that they want to evoke tears from the viewer by recalling memories. The space of individual memory is intended for personal reliving of a situation that makes an individual cry. In the space of collective memory, short film excerpts are accessible on the screen. Depending on their temperament or current mood, the visitor can choose between a melodramatic scene, a family tragedy, a nuclear disaster, burlesque humor, the Holocaust, the death of a beloved leader, the declaration of independence, etc. The space of physiological memory is intended for the chemical elicitation of the visitor's tears. The visitor can decide for an individual or group donation of tears. In the first case, his tears are stored in test tubes, and the donor receives a certificate of authenticity; in group donations, tears are collected according to eye color.
