Repository of Light and Memory

Zone 3

Zone 3
Repository of Light and Memory
Our memories contain many moments and stories. And the records do too, as they contain our memories. They consist of stories about why these records were made, the stories themselves, and the places that contain them. All of them take on different forms. The Memory of the World, created by gathering these memories and records, will be reborn in digital form in this space. In the third space, <Repository of Light and Memory>, the Memory of the World created in different times and spaces meet in virtual space to create one work of art.

Sammy Lee, a Canadian media artist based in the UK, uses her imagination and research, as well as game engines, neuroscience and other disciplines, to create a large format video that resonates on the screen like fireworks. Records, the embodiment of the past, meet modern media technology, demonstrating that the Memory of the World traverses time and space. Nowadays, more memories and experiences are being recorded through modern technology. In this era of with overflowing data, this zone will make you think about the meaning of the Memory of the World that we must preserve and protect.
Codex Cornucopia, 2023 (Sammy Lee)

Codex means a manuscript book especially of scripture, classics, or ancient annals. Cornucopia, “the horn of plenty” is the symbol of abundance and overflow. It is descriptive of the exponential amount of data generated in the digital age. The work shows how the materiality of the past becomes digitized and enters into a digital ecosystem – suddenly bone, papyrus, vellum, paper, daguerreotype – is represented on the same plane, through the same light on our screens. As a large-scale media installation, <Codex Cornucopia> explores and celebrates this feeling of cornucopia through a whimsical firework display of images and sound. Constructing the work using a video game engine, the world makes the hyper-dimensionality of memory in the digital age, like entering into a fractal labyrinth.

Sammy Lee
Media Artist
Selected Exhibitions/Commissions

2024

Solo Exhibition <Cornucopia>
(Stephanie Kim Gallery, New York, USA)

2023

Commission <Ecophony Oreum> (with M.J. Harding)
(Jeju Museum of Art, Jeju, Republic of Korea)

Commission <As Above, So Below>
(Science Gallery London, London, UK)

2022

Commission <Mirror I : The Sea> (with Sarah Shin)
(SWAY, Barry, UK)

2021

Commission <Aviary>
(Tate St Ives, St Ives, UK)