Our sense of identity, who we are and what we’ve accomplished, is something intrinsically linked to our life made of memory. But even a vivid and detailed memory can be distorted with inaccuracies in the reconstruction of facts, or subjective impressions that are taken for what really happened. The continuity of memory is no guarantee of truth; memory disruption is no guarantee of falsehood. It is believed that memory is a reconstructed phenomenon and, therefore, it is strongly influenced by our expectations and emotions, the implicit beliefs of others, inadequate interpretations or desired outcomes. Is the measure of a life well lived based on the quality of the memories?

So what about running out of memory? From trauma leading to memory repression or distancing, false memories… invented memories taken for granted due to gaps in memory

“Over The Eyes”, title inspired by the old saying: “to pull the wool over the eyes”, is a multimedia installation created in October 2007 , at the Binaural/Nodar residence in Nodar, Portugal.

I intended to create an environment that, using all the senses, would lead the spectator to reflection and contemplation on the mystery of memory. I spoke with local people around a knitting group, I recorded the conversations, the songs and the stories. This was incorporated into the installation’s sound design, along with sound recordings from the field at that location, and writings on the physiological, biological and psychological aspects related to the creation and destruction of memory in humans.

Maile Colbert (USA) is a sound and video artist currently working in Los Angeles, California. She is a graduate of the Studio for Interrelated Media at the Massachusetts College of Art, and a graduate of Integrated Media / Film and Video from the California Institute of the Arts. His works have been featured and exhibited at multiple venues and events such as The New York Film Festival, LACE Gallery, MOMA NewYork, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the REDCAT Theater in Los Angeles, The Portland International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival, and a two-week multimedia tour of Japan.