Christopher Poulson, University of Middlesex
At Last, Enough

I would like to present a discussion of the practice of memory as a system of feedback that we shape into a state of a constant reoccurrence of embodiment, a sense of a nascent reality.  The physical action of thinking might be thought of as a repeated journey, tracing of electro-chemical pathways among neurons.

My paper will address this subject through examining some 16th century practices of non-transcendental meditation and internal iconoclasm as practiced by Anne Drury and Joseph Hall, and theorised by Peter Ramus. Repeating patterns of image and word were used to construct extended chains of memory, and to bring about an intense awareness of the mechanics of perception. This was an attempt for states of thought be held and recuperated, through repeated practice.

(a digression … I was inspired to be an artist whilst stuck on supplementary benefit and watching a film on afternoon TV. It was a Canterbury tale by Powell/Pressburger. one scene particularly fascinated me, a cut to two figures walking down a sun drenched lane. One shouts “hey catch” and throws a ball to the other, end of scene. It kept/keeps repeating in my head.)

My mode of presentation will itself be performative, an interweaving, and looping of images, text and speech, centred around a set of emblems devised for the event.

Everyday returning to the same place…
We might imagine  this practice as a well worn path; around this path the landscape and the air itself begins to harden into a new form, extending, cloistering the road- what sits at the vanishing point? In the time it takes us to make the journey the structure has grown solid all around us. Objects accumulate different layers of meaning, they are linked by a narrative trajectory, symbolic power. The journey is a device for alteration. A web of connections is woven from these ectoplastic artefacts, gradually usurping the mundane, seeming to reform the now we inhabit.  And in this the promise of rest becomes dependent on fevered movement, as rest is always elsewhere.

I am a PhD student at Middlesex University working on a practice based project within the Fine Art department. Although painting has always been at the core of my practice I work in a variety of media, much of my work might be characterised as installation or live art. My work concerns extension and fragility. I am fascinated with the intersection of memory and perception, and the persistent haunting power of illusion. Within my work simple
functioning patterns grow, reach a limit and then collapse. These might be manifested as images in painting, constructions, loops of sound or attempts at conversation.

My research project is titled ‘Half Lost; and not lost’ and is focussed on an examination of the physicality of thought, its performance and movement and how this generates a loop of recognition and interruption, and of the organisation of this in space.