Ann Rosén
News Memory, 1994
Resident
in
Stockholm
Sweden
News Memory was first staged in Stockholm 1994.
Created with the help from, Kari Andén-Papadopoulos, Bernt Arell, Breda Beban, Tore Berger, Ingamaj Beck, Daniel Birnbaum, Brian Catling, Cecilia Edefalk, Lennart E Fahlén, Jårg Geismar, Elisabeth Haitto, CM von Hausswolff, Hrvoje Horvatic', Annica Karlsson Rixon, Robin Klassnik, Donald E Knaub, Torbjörn Limé, Monica Nieckels, John Peter Nilsson, Lizzie Olsson Arle, Margareta Orreblad, Kristina Riegert, Laura Ruggeri, Gertrud Sandqvist, Tom Sandqvist, Martin Sjöberg, Göran Smedfors, Karsten Thurfjell, Irene Vestman and Fredrik Wretman whom I asked to send me various news items of their choosing.
NewsMemory is an interactive sculpture, a process, gameboard, an open ended game that can deal with the consequences and conflicts of rules, the importance and meaning of news, social rules, hierarchical structures, communication strategies, political and social patterns, the influence of mass-media, or whatever you wish/like/want.
NewsMemory
can be played infinitely and has therefore no firm rules - only specific
pre-requisites which gives the participants the possibilities to play
as they wish.
The staging of NewsMemory has differed very much from one occasion to
another depending on the number of participants, their relation to me,
to each other and the site. A small room with specially invited people
and a museum filled with people walking around are of course two different
things resulting in different meetings and reactions, but that does not
mean that one is better than the other. Just different.
I have often been asked: What do you want us to do? Why are there no rules? What do you wish to happen? My reply: make your own choice, make the rules you need. If I were to write the rules it would preclude the possibilities for an infinite game. My role is to set up the prerequisites
© Ann Rosén 1994