The main focus of Pablo Mercado's work is human memory and, in particular, how the brain processes and retrieves information to create memories.
The memory of an entire experience consists of bits of information that are stored in different regions of the brain. These bits of information are then pieced together by the hippocampus from the different areas. Until recently it was believed that memories remained static until the storage medium was damaged. Recent neuroscientific studies suggest that when we recall an event, a new consolidation of memory occurs. This is not a generation of a new memory but a restructuring or reconstruction of the previous memory. When the brain remembers something, that memory is reconstructed and updated. This phenomenon means that when something is recalled, it is not the original event that we remember, but the latest update. In this retrieval the brain reinterprets and modifies the information. The more an event is recalled, the greater the difference between the memory and the original event. Memory is therefore a very creative process.
Through his working method, Mercado creates a connection between these theories and the field of visual arts. He uses everyday objects, linked to memory and human experience. He then dismantles and reconstructs them in a new, altered form. The object appears as a kind of original experience on which memories are based, so by deconstructing and reconstructing, a new object with new meaning is generated.
The memory of an entire experience consists of bits of information that are stored in different regions of the brain. These bits of information are then pieced together by the hippocampus from the different areas. Until recently it was believed that memories remained static until the storage medium was damaged. Recent neuroscientific studies suggest that when we recall an event, a new consolidation of memory occurs. This is not a generation of a new memory but a restructuring or reconstruction of the previous memory. When the brain remembers something, that memory is reconstructed and updated. This phenomenon means that when something is recalled, it is not the original event that we remember, but the latest update. In this retrieval the brain reinterprets and modifies the information. The more an event is recalled, the greater the difference between the memory and the original event. Memory is therefore a very creative process.
Through his working method, Mercado creates a connection between these theories and the field of visual arts. He uses everyday objects, linked to memory and human experience. He then dismantles and reconstructs them in a new, altered form. The object appears as a kind of original experience on which memories are based, so by deconstructing and reconstructing, a new object with new meaning is generated.
June 27, 2023
