Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist, visual artist and designer. His first novel in 1991 was Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. He has published thirteen novels, a collection of short stories, seven nonfiction books, and a number of dramatic works and screenplays for film and television. Coupland’s novels and visual work synthesize high and low culture, web technology, religion, and changes in human existence caused by modern technologies.
The Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon is the seventh in the Gallery’s acclaimed Marathon series. This two-day event will be an exploration of memory, archaeological excavation, historical recordings as well as digital storage and the effect electronic preservation has on human memory. Exploring the overlaps and interactions between artistic practice and scientific enquiry, the Marathon has become deeply interwoven with the annual Pavilion commission. The design of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012, by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei, takes its inspiration from the work of archaeological excavation, as a material unearthing of memory.
Among more than 60 participants confirmed so far are former REM vocalist Michael Stipe; filmmakers Amos Gitai and David Lynch, who will present a new film; historians Eric Hobsbawm,Jay Winter and Donald Sassoon, who together will explore the theme of ‘War Memory’; celebrated neuroscientist Israel Rosenfield, who will introduce ‘The Problem of Memory’ with writer John Hull, robotics expert Luc Steels and World Memory Champion Ed Cooke; artists Olivier Castel and Ed Atkins on ‘Deception and Self-Deception’; publisher Jefferson Hack; scent expert Sissel Tolaas on ‘Sensory Memory’. Other contributors include Harvard astronomy professor Dimitar Sasselov; writer and critic John Berger; writer Douglas Coupland; poet John Giorno; writer and cultural historian Marina Warner; author and technologist China Miéville; artists Gilbert & George; architects Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron and Fumihiko Maki; composer Gavin Bryars with poet and painter Etel Adnan.
Memory Marathon
October
13–14, 2012
Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens
London W2 3XA
T 020 7402 6075
F 020 7402 4103
information@serpentinegallery.org
For more information www.serpentinegallery.org
