“Living Memory” by Asher Young Debuts in New York
On Oct. 10, New York-based artist Asher Young debuted “Living Memory,” an interactive art piece, at the artXnyc exhibit. Its fall 2024 showing wrapped up on Oct. 27. To create the installation, Asher Young combined a projector, light, fans, water particulates, and personal archives. Together, these elements formed an ephemeral piece meant to evoke memory as it truly is—intangible, fleeting, and impactful.
The installation projected images of lost loved ones submitted by community members onto a wall of water vapor, which constantly evaporated and reformed. Meanwhile, viewers felt the impact of watching the water droplets cycle through these memories. By looking up, they could also see these memories as blurry, shifting images projected onto the ceiling.
This piece is totally unique. Its webpage calls it “a piece where viewers are invited to inhabit the same physical space as their memories.” As the steam cycled through memories of lost loved ones, the installation invited the audience into an intensely personal space where pain and joy become tangible.
Asher Young further emphasized the piece’s intention in his artist statement. “Living Memory,” he wrote, “offers two main experiences—serving as a repository and capsule of other people’s memories and physicalizing a personal memory that previously only existed in the viewer’s mind.”
To submit memories of lost loved ones for inclusion, visit https://www.asheryoung.studio/livingmemory.
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