Memory Makes Us (2013)

“Memory Makes Us” was a travelling live event organised by if:book Australia, in which writers were challenged to create a story by collecting inspiration from memories submitted by the general public. The project was realised during 2013-2015 in Australia and the United States. Participants could submit their memories online or in person, typewritten or handwritten on paper with the project logo or on a simple sticky note. Authors worked on the text during all-day events in public, using the submitted materials. The results were published in real-time on the website project and visible on a big screen in the event space.

The event in which Pullinger took part kicked off the project, and it was the only iteration where just one author participated. It took place on the 9th of July 2013 in Queensland State Library. The finished story was available online for a short time and then gradually disappeared, as planned by if:Book Australia’s Simon Groth, the creator of the project. Kate’s text from the project also appeared in a print publication published in 2015, after the cycle of Australian events was completed. The publication’s layout played with the idea of vanishing memories, as did the gradually disappearing digital texts on the project website (intentionally no longer accessible and not reconstructed).

Simon Groth said: “For the writers involved, this was performance distinct from other performative aspects of literature: it wasn’t a reading of a prepared work, nor was it freestyle poetry. It was improvisation not with speech but with text and the tools of contemporary writing: keyboard and cut-and-paste”.

Due to the ephemeral character of the work you cannot experience it now. “What remains of Memory Makes Us after the final event won’t be an archive, a repository, or even this book. It will be a collection of memories, imperfect, fleeting, and personal” explained Groth in the introduction for the print publication. Materials available here include a slideshow of images documenting the live event, a video presenting archival materials from the event and a digitised version of a publication created after a series of “Memory Makes Us” events, including Kate’s text. You can also have a look at a selection of typed memories delivered to Kate on the event day in the Archive and watch the video documenting the 2-year-long project and the print publication.