‘Recollect’: Telling real life stories through multimedia art

“I hope this work offers something else: where you can be a human, and feel kinship.”

Artist Thomas Buckley.

Open Tuesday - Sunday 10.30am to 6pm. 5pm close on Sunday. Closed Mondays.

We’re delighted to offer our latest exhibition ‘Recollect’ by artist Thomas Buckley, a show which uses creativity and technology to bring to life the memories of a selection of Jersey’s elderly people.

Recollect gives visitors objects to explore that offer a window onto another person’s life. You will hear voices, smell chamomile, get soil under your fingernails and in doing so come to learn a little about what it is like to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.

Using multimedia practices that will enliven all of our senses, Thomas Buckley, a former fellow of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has created a magically evocative show that uses sculpture, scent, sound and emerging technologies to explore the memories of Jersey’s older generation. Working in collaboration with Age Concern, the artist and a cohort of ArtHouse Jersey volunteers have built relationships with a range of elderly Islanders, discovering their stories and creating an exhibition that uses multimedia art to bring to life their very precious memories. Thomas will be working closely alongside expert collaborators, who each bring expertise in, sculpture (Kate Phillips), scent (Renske van Vronnhoven) and storytelling (Sharon Clark).

‘Recollect’ opens is open now until Sunday 27 November 2022 at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House, 8 Church, Street, St Helier

ABOUT THE ARTIST THOMAS BUCKLEY

Thomas Buckley works as an artist and storyteller using digital media. Often working in projection, immersive technologies (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, XR) and interactive installations, his work is often about using digital or XR outcomes as a poultice to draw out our humanity. He believes public opinions around technology and humanity are too dichotomous. Buckley said, “I believe technology and creativity are our greatest tools in connecting to one another. Yet we are constantly curating and editing who we are for digital platforms. The wardrobe is a place where we keep parts of ourselves in shoe boxes, we don’t design it or curate it. In an age where we can filter ourselves for Zoom catch-ups I hope this work offers something else: where you can be a human, and feel kinship.”

The relationship between Thomas Buckley and ArtHouse Jersey has developed and strengthened over the years. Thomas was a participant in our 2019 Artist Lock In at Greve de Lecq Barracks. Our Producers were so excited about the work he was presenting that he was offered a research and development residency at the start of 2020, where he worked with a team of collaborators to develop his Memory Bar concept, which was due to then be presented to the public in Autumn 2020. When the COVID restrictions hit in the Spring of 2020 and we were unable to reach large proportions of our population, particularly the elderly, Thomas was commissioned to reshape his research to deliver something magical that could be delivered directly to people’s doors. The Memory Box project brought art and technology straight into the homes of the most isolated older people in our community. We are now delighted to see all of this work culminated for the entire public in a full scale exhibition.

Director of ArtHouse Jersey, Tom Dingle, said: “This exhibition is a continuation of our work exploring the lived experience of people within our community. We are particularly interested in those whose voice might otherwise go unheard and in this case have been delighted to work in partnership with Age Concern who have warmly introduced our volunteers to their community of members. In Thomas Buckley we have a lead artist who has worked with acclaimed academic and arts institutions building a consistent body of work around memories, using emerging technologies and a touch of magic to engage all of our senses and truly bring them to life.

‘Recollect’ is open now and runs until 27 November at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House, 8 Church Street, St Helier. More details can be found at arthousejersey.je