Barking Film Series!

Running through Memory with Nic Kemp - Q & A

Welcome to our second installment of the Barking Film series! It’s Nic Kemp’s turn on the hot seat, answering questions about her film installation, “Memory Run”.

It is best viewed under very specific conditions: two floor to ceiling screens project two different scenes, which are in fact part of the same film. This is topped off with a specially designed soundtrack that booms 5.1 surround sound. The two minutes and thirty seconds of “Memory Run” loop continuously, revealing a simple, but intricate plot. After watching the film a few times, one begins to see how the extras and cars in the background all lead up to the film’s ultimate outcome.

THE Q’s & A’s

Laura: How does the typical viewer interact with this unique screening set-up?

Nic: The viewer stands in the middle of the two screens; she flips her attention from one screen to the other. The viewer tries to retain the information she saw on one screen and link it together with the other screen’s action. This tests her short term memory as she pieces together the fragments of the event. The film should be watched a few times, as it loops. This enables the viewer to piece together the events over a longer space of time, and often she notices new things each time.

A film should be viewed and experienced by an audience; therefore, I like to create a unique experience for the viewers where they are active too. I’d hope that it is challenging and exciting too.

Laura: The two screens change, occupying different parts of the girl’s path. What is this representative of?

Nic: I see the girl as the “memory”. I wanted a person, a physical body, to represent the memory as it originates from the actions we do and how we perceive these moments. She’s also an outsider in a very normal, quiet, suburban high street. She is the cause of an event, for a brief moment in time, but that moment leaves a lasting impression (or memory) on the people involved. The running woman’s feelings are ambiguous, making the audience question what is happening in the piece.

Both screens show the same road at the same point in time, but looking in opposite directions. The runner moves through the viewer at the part of the road where you are standing. You get this idea from viewing on a split screen. The piece is intended as an installation, and so should be viewed on two screens for the full effect.

Laura: How did you conceive “Memory Run”? What did you want to communicate?

Nic: The installation was inspired by the emotions one draws from a moment. Those momentary feelings are how you will perceive the situation afterward. This then becomes your memory. The memory could be very different from the reality of the situation. The memory then changes over time, becoming fragmented, but you piece together these fragments to create a whole new memory.

Everyone remembers things differently. Factors, such as collective memory, emotions, noting down the moment in the form of writing or a photograph, all depend on how we remember a situation.

Laura:Why do you think it’s important that the viewer runs with the woman? Is being in her head-space, watching her reactions, listening to her breathing contributing to her ongoing memory?

Nic: The viewer’s participation in this installation is as much part of the piece as the video or sound. I wanted the viewer to feel like she’s apart of the person running. That the memory is hers for a moment. I had to invoke some physical and emotional response from the audience. The sound in the piece is designed to feel like it’s inside your head. The use of the low frequency base, which you can only hear using a 5.1 surround sound set-up, becomes most intense as she appears to run through the audience. This causes a physical sensation; it feels like she is running through you.

Laura: Will you be expanding on “Memory Run” in the future?

Nic: Plans are in place to create part two of the triptych. This will involve a different environment and be based on a collection of memories of people running. Over the next few weeks I will open this up to a wider audience. I am hoping the blog will be useful for this.