Memory at the Tate Modern [1 | 2]

I remember the place and the people. The place is the Tate Modern, it’s a Monday evening in late October 2003. I’m participating in a workshop called the ‘Value of Art’, and, with a dozen other people, I’ve been asked to bring in an ‘object of value’.

Behind me is a large cabinet of draws and cupboards full of paraphernalia gathered from the foreshore close to the Tate Modern. Mark Dion organised the collecting of objects for this cabinet.
I’ve brought in a memory card. I use this memory card for storing photographic images. One of the tutors running the group photographs the objects that people have brought in. He uses a digital camera, which uses a memory card. His idea is to put these images on a web site where participants explain these objects in relation to the Mark Dion cabinet of objects and the notion of ‘heroic artistic practice’.

I find 'heroic practice' [larger than life?] a little difficult to understand in relation to the Mark Dion cabinet, however, I'm interested in the idea of a cabinet of curiosities - a Wunderkammer.
Back in the 16th century rich families would collect an eclectic mix of objects that related to the arts and the sciences. The cabinet would be the place where these objects could be proudly shown and talked about, a place to stimulate convivial conversation and allow the mind to wander to faraway places. Today we can collect the images of the objects we have gathered and display these on a web site. Our own cabinet of curiosities to wonder at.

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