Memory Palace Leuk, 2018
(Gedächstnispalast Leuk)
For the Schloss Leuk Foundation (Stiftung Schloss Leuk) in Wallis, Switzerland, Arnold Dreyblatt created a new work with local historical archives and object collections from the site. His artistic work is concerned with the social practice of the archive and the associated technical dispositives in space (archival holdings, burocratic forms) and in computer science (digital databases, search tools). He juxtaposed historical documents from politics and the catholic church (social and political structure from above) and from the everyday life of the population (private archives, private collections, letters).
Live Performance
A reading performance took place in the entrance hall of the medieval castle, following a dramaturgical score by the artist. 10 readers from Leuk and surroundings performed a text choreography in the space, composed by Arnold Dreyblatt from local archive material. Reading lights indicated the beginning and end of individual yet simultaneous readings, forming a mosaic of voices. The score was hung in the hall.
Installation
All readings were pre-recorded at Radio Rottu Oberwallis. The recordings were played back at the site of the individual readings in live performance and syncronized with the reading lamps so that the live performance could be experienced as an installation during later opening times.
Downstairs in the lower level of the castle a virtual treasury of local historical objects owned by the Collection Pro Leuka formed an installation “Kartothek”, appearing alone as a data map with voice and text. In the centre of the room, an unfilled Pro Leuka inventory card from the collection appears on the floor, containing the terms and order criteria with which museum workers and archives receive documents and objects from posterity. A recorded voice reads the data from 50 inventory cards, allowing the visitor to visualize the archived historical objects.
A round table discussion was held with local historians and collectors. The project is supervised on site by Carlo Schmidt, artist and artistic director of Schloss Leuk. The art historian Sibylle Omlin assisted with the curatorial preparation and mediation of the project.
In cooperation with Radio Rottu Oberwallis, and Tomtechnik Ried-Möre, CH