Memory Store Day

Memory Store (Austins Department Store, Derry~Londonderry, November 2013) is an evolving performance-as-research methodology that attempts to deep-map multiple connections between memory and place in particular locations. In this case we explore the symbolic intersections of memory and place in a culturally significant location in Derry~Londonderry, Austins Department Store, in a short and intense period of activity. The Memory Store was a day-long series of participatory live events, installations and encounters staged in Austins, where we invited staff, customers, and anyone else interested to come to the store and share their memories with us. The day was divided into a five-part structure: a co-curated pop-up exhibition called “Goods”; a “Writer’s Kitchen” event with playwright and novelist Dave Duggan; several “Children’s Play Area” activities; an afternoon “Tea and Memories” exchange; and “You Askin’”, a community dance event.