A false memory is a distorted or entirely invented recollection of an experience
Artist A.R. Hopwood has been researching the fallibility of memory to create a new body of work based on collaborations with scientists, other artists and members of the public. At the core of the project is the website www.falsememoryarchive.com where the public are invited to submit their own false or ‘non-believed’ memory to The False Memory Archive.
Hopwood takes scientific findings about memory as a starting point to create works that interrogate and reflect upon what kind of ‘truth’ a false memory can reveal. The collaborations have resulted in a film of a hot air balloon ride, a vinyl LP of ‘silences’ from memory experiments and a series of recordings of the ‘end of the world’.
Hopwood has worked previously as The WITH Collective – withyou.co.uk – creating projects for Tate Britain, The ICA, Hayward Gallery, the V&A and Chapter, Cardiff. He has been artist in resident at the Anomalistic Psychology Research unit at Goldsmiths since 2011 and in 2013 he was selected to become a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow.
The False Memory Archive is supported by Wellcome Trust, Arts Council England, Ilford Lab Direct and Vicon Revue.