IN THE WEST WE LIVE IN A HIGHLY MEDIATED SOCIETY WHERE THE ONLINE WORLD IS ARGUABLY REPLACING
A MORE AUTHENTIC, TACTILE ONE. WE CONSTANTLY UPLOAD PHOTOS AND AMASS UBIQUITOUS OBJECTS TO VALIDATE OUR EXISTANCE AND CREATE MEMORIES OF IDEAL EXPERIENCES.
YEAR-LONG DAILY ART PROJECTS
"We live in the past and create unrealistic expectations for our future, leaving us in a general state of ambivalence and melancholy. I am interested in exploring these ideas and, in particular, ideas of inauthentic Vs authentic representation: imagery Vs object." Sim Luttin
In 2008 Sim began time-based investigations that attempt to find meaning in the everyday. To date, she has completed four yearlong, piece a day projects. The first, The Temporary Nature of Things (2008) idealistically looked for beauty in the everyday, distilling daily observations into 366 jewellery pieces and artist books. The second, These Moments Existed (2013) explored ideas of ambivalence and melancholy, with 365 digital photos that inspired wood and paper contemporary jewellery that were ambiguous or ephemeral. The third, It's Always Darkest Just Before Dawn (2015) pursued the creation of authentic representations, starting with digital archiving of Sim's locale in moving and still images that informed a new collection of contemporary art jewellery. The fourth instalment, Momentarily Here (2017), continued this enquiry and searched for meaning in everyday moments captured on her camera phone. From 2018, Sim began a new photo and jewellery project with the umbrella title Memory Palace, which signals a new decadelong, piece a day project that will be divided into ten chapters, each marking one year of a life lived. These observations don't capture the perfect moment in any day; they are an effort to pause, connect and reflect—even for the briefest moment.
MEMORY PALACE
A decade-long piece a day project
2019 // YEAR 2: MOMENT IN TIME
Memory Palace is a decadelong time-based digital, photography and art jewellery project.
While this piece a day exploration continues Sim's search for meaning in everyday moments, it is the beginning of ten back-to-back yearlong piece a day projects that will comprise the series Memory Palace.
Without this gesture, most moments will go unnoticed and will be lost to time. They are one person's path through life, over one year. What remains is a version of a life lived—significant or not.
MEMORY PALACE
A new decade-long piece a day project
2018 / YEAR 1: REMAINS OF THE DAY
Memory Palace is a decadelong time-based digital, photography and art jewellery project.
While this piece a day exploration continues Sim's search for meaning in everyday moments, it is the beginning of ten back-to-back yearlong piece a day projects that will comprise the series Memory Palace. Without this gesture, most moments will go unnoticed and will be lost to time. They are one person's path through life, over one year. What remains is a version of a life lived—significant or not.
MOMENTARILY HERE
Presented as part of 'Keepsake' with Kirrily Hammond at Bundoora Homestead, VIC
2017
Momentarily Here was a yearlong time-based digital, photography & art jewellery project.
This piece a day exploration searched for meaning in everyday moments. Sim's observations didn't attempt to capture the perfect moment in a day.
On the contrary, given the chaos in the world, this daily habit was an effort to pause, connect, and reflect—just for a moment.
IT'S ALWAYS DARKEST
JUST BEFORE DAWN
Gray Street Workshop SA
2014-15
It's Always Darkest Just Before Dawn was a yearlong time-based digital & art jewellery project.
It's Always Darkest Just Before Dawn was a contemporary multi-disciplinary enquiry that explored the significance of handmade objects at a time when people are engrossed in digital culture and mass-produced products. The project pursued the creation of authentic representations, starting with digital documentation that informed a new series of contemporary art jewellery.
THESE MOMENTS EXISTED
Grunwald Gallery, USA
2012-13
These Moments Existed was a photography and contemporary jewellery installation created from 2012 to 2013 that explored everyday moments with an air of ambivalence and melancholy.
Many people in the developed world live in an image-saturated, and social media-addicted society. Sim was interested in exploring her personal experience of this.
These Moments Existed was an attempt to cut through the noise and find meaning in the everyday, reflecting the here and now.
THE TEMPORARY NATURE OF THINGS
SoFA Gallery, Indiana University
2007-08
The transcendence presented by the miniature is a special transcendence, a transcendence that erases the productive possibilities of understanding through time. Its locus is thereby the nostalgic. - Susan Stewart
The Temporary Nature of Things considered notions of beauty, nostalgia, impermanence, and passing time. Motivated by the deterioration of memory and how this is represented nostalgically through miniature objects, the exploration comprised an installation of jewellery and objects, made one a day, over the course of one year.