(UN)RUSTED MEMORIES: TIN CANS, MEMORIES AND EMOTIONS

Memory tends to be located in the wiring of the brain as well as in the materiality, the exteriority. Importantly, memories are invoked by objects and the stories we connect to objects, or extract from them, may resonate intimately and/or collectively. Think of the tin can. Canning is about 200 hundred years old and its effects have been wide and varied: canned food has redefined the military and industry, travel and the everyday. Without the tin can who knows if the Earth’s poles would have been conquered yet, not to mention space travel. Eventually, the tin can became a metaphorically and nutritionally extremely potent object, a carrier and trigger of narratives: stories unfurl in interactions with objects, memories resurface triggered by the design and the packaging, the feel of the metal, the sound of opening the tin, the scent of its innards, they let us imagine faraway places.

This workshop will be an opportunity to craft the space of interaction and sharing by manipulating tins and memories, structuring them into narratives and feelings.

Led by: Tanja Petrović

Preparations: Bring two tins of canned food (fish, pate, meat, vegetables etc.) which have particular meaning for you – they may be from your country or in any way related to your experience. One tin will be used for a collaborative exhibition, one for the tin can gourmet feast to wrap up the event. Along, do also bring a short story, a personal memory, a poem or a sculpture (up to you) related to cans and feelings and memories they trigger.

The workshop will last 2,5 hours and will be divided into three complementary stages:

• Stories from the tin: participants will present the stories, memories and associations triggered by cans. We will look for shared narrative and emotive elements as well as emphasise regional and individual specifics. Connect and share!
• Collaborative exhibition: based on these narratives and their materialisations, the participants will conceptualise, design and bring to life a story-map of emotive reticulation. Printer, panels, ropes, geographic maps, canned food advertisements etc. will be provided to assist in visual expression. Manipulating objects, creating new narratives!
• Tin can gourmet: finally, the participants will engage in connecting the stories with a gourmet experience, combining various canning approaches, testing untested combinations of canned food. No combination is off limits!

APPLICATION NECESSARY: If you would like to participate at the workshop, please send us a confirmation e-mail to tamara.bracic.vidmar@bunker.si by July 30. Places are limited.