Process

This piece was created via code on Processing. I started by developing the ellipse/pointillism effect. I originally applied this effect to images, but felt that video games are special due to their video and audio. So, I chose to use gameplay video captures of games that were the most significant to me growing up.

The sizes of the ellipses change when you move the cursor from the top right corner to the bottom left corner. But, the image is never fully clear. Even in its highest resolution, it is deliberately pixelated to express the fragmentation of memory: even if you try hard to recall a memory, you will not be able to accurately.

Concept

The feeling of suddenly recalling a precious memory, as if it were a flashback, a déjà vu, is one that I wanted to recreate with Memory Console. Growing up in the late 90s in a tech savvy family meant that gaming consoles and the PC were my main sources of entertainment, and ultimately the bulk of my childhood memories. Attached to each game, is a fragmented experience that I can recall bits and pieces of. Some are triggered by the images and others by the sounds. Mario’s cry in Yoshi’s Island transports me back to the basement in our house in Baltimore, Maryland, sitting on a pillow cross-legged on the carpeted floor, the bulky TV sits on a small drawer chest, and the Super Nintendo is covered in the smell of old perfume. Memory Console celebrates human memories, although broken, that technologies hold, in this case, that video games hold.

For viewers of this piece: I wonder which technology holds special memories for them?