The Latin phrase Memento Mori, meaning “remember you will die”, denotes objects which remind us of our mortality. What
alternative Memento Mori rituals might be created in light of current developments in technology, philosophy and science?

Speculative designer Jessica Charlesworth, cloaked in the fictional identity of the MeMo Organization, presents a cabinet of
curious objects and stories that explores a range of poetic practices
and attitudes towards death and mourning.

MeMo is a research-based initiative that recognizes the way cultural shifts have created new relations toward death and experiences
of finality. Such change opens the door to more personal, relevant and contemporary experiences of death.

The MeMo Organization Cabinet, in conjunction with the exhibit,
Morbid Curiosity:The Richard Harris Collection, will be on display on the
4th floor lobby at the Chicago Cultural Center
from January 28th - July 8th.

 

MeMo Events

SIgn up to register your interest

May 4th, 2012
MeMo Guest Panel
Chicago Cultural Center: 5.30pm - 7.30pm

The Memo Organization Cabinet will be accompanied by a panel seminar with guests including the mortician Caitlin Doughty, music thanatologists Margaret Pasquesi and Tony Pederson, architect John Ronan and MeMo designer Jessica Charlesworth. The panel will be chaired by Michael Graham of Balloon Contemporary

June 21st, 2012
MeMo Film Screening
Chicago Cultural Center: 6pm - 8pm

The MeMo Cabinet is distilled from a wide ranging field of research. The recent medicalization and banishment of death & mourning from public experience, the emergence of hospice care, the funeral industry & the green burial movement, the impact of new digital & biological technologies & a growing desire for increased meaning in the service of the dying self.

Ambient Traces
What if there was a service to ease the grief of
losing my partner?
The Hasting Center: End of Life
Center for Death and Society
Ways to Deal with Grief

For As Long As We Both Shall Live
What if we could live as long as Siberian Actinobacteria?
Vacations to the Siberian Permafrost
Photographer captures oldest living organism
Transhumanism and the Posthuman Future
Can We Live Forever?

"Charlesworth aims at recovering a poetics of existence in a
world unable to recognize its own mortality.
[...]
The alternate universe of customs and rituals she describes
is both lushly rendered and emotively conveyed in
such a way that it feels immediately accessible."

- Maura Lucking, The Dying Self, fNewsmagazine, 3/19/12

MeMo Organization Press Pack:
MeMo Press Release
MeMo Installation Images & Illustrations
 MeMo flickr Set

For press enquiries contact:
Jessica Charlesworth or Michael Graham


Concept, writing, illustrations & modelmaking
Jessica Charlesworth MA (RCA), UK (1979)

Since graduating from the Design Interactions program
lead by Professor Anthony Dunne at the Royal
College of Art in 2007, Jessica has run her own practice
conducting speculative design projects, often
collaborating with scientists, futurists, designers and
academics including think tanks Foresight (UK)
and the Institute for the Future (US). With this
interdisciplinary approach she explores alternative
futures that new technologies and science may hold.
Jessica has exhibited at the MAKVienna, Ace Museum in LA
and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

MeMo Identity, MeMo booklet layout & typeset by Romain André
Presented by Michael Graham of Balloon Contemporary, Chicago
Special thanks to Tim Parsons, Thom Moran,
Monumental Artworks, Charlie McArthur and Judith Lambotte.