In its simplest form, memory is retaining and recalling recent or far past experiences often coming in oral forms and narratives. It is the act of remembering, recollecting narratives that are inevitably linked to space. Although memory is thought to belong to an individual, it transcends the individual perspective and becomes a collective phenomenon created by the society.

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Yet, how can urban memory be curated so that it would transgress its passive entity and revived through a mobile vehicle? In what ways can this revival become an outcome of a collective will? How can this process be transformed into a mobile and public performance?

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Focusing on a specific context in Izmir, Memory Box is beyond a public installation seeking the answers to these questions. 1960’s were the years when cultural experiences engaged through open and enclosed movie theatres scattered around the city. But today, most of these spaces are either abandoned or demolished and replaced by tall apartment blocks. However, some of them still preserve their cultural values. The installation evolves from this point and particularly addresses the transformation process of a neighborhood movie theatre into an active cultural center today.Memory Box is based on remembering the transformation process of ‘Cultural Center’ located in Güzelyalı neighborhood of Izmir. The memories referring the civic initiation about the transformation of As Movie Theatre of 80’s into a ‘Cultural Center’ were emphasized and made visible via a mobile box located in the park of the same neighborhood.

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* Memory Box is an event implemented under CONNECTING COMM(ON)UNITIES project initiated by ARTA in Dialog (Cluj/RO) and UrbanTank (Izmir/TR). Curated by Monica Sebestyen and Tuba Doğu. Funded by TANDEM Turkey-EU Programme.

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TANDEM – Cultural Managers Exchange Turkey – EU is an initiative of the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam), MitOst (Berlin), Anadolu Kültür Foundation (Istanbul), and supported by Stiftung Mercator (Essen).