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YEAR-LONG DAILY ART PROJECTS

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 EXISTENCE AND CREATE MEMORIES OF IDEAL EXPERIENCES.

"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, in 2008, idealistically looked for beauty every day, 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 the 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. In 2017, Sim began a new photo and jewellery project Memory Palacewhich signals a new decadelong, piece-a-day project divided into ten chapters, each marking one year of a life lived. These observations don't capture the perfect moment; they are an attempt to pause, connect and reflect—even for the briefest moment.

MEMORY PALACE
A decade-long piece-a-day project.
2021 / YEAR 5: TRANSCEND

 

Memory Palace is a decadelong time-based digital, photography and art jewellery project.

 

Transcend responds to the difficult times we find ourselves. By bringing nature and beauty back into focus, this project asks, "In times of hardship, what are the important things to focus on? What comforts us in challenging times? How can creating contemporary art and craft help facilitate personal and cultural recovery and resilience?"

MEMORY PALACE
A decade-long piece a day project.
2020 / YEAR 4: MEMESIS

 

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 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 decade-long piece-a-day project.
2019 / YEAR 3: 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 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 decade-long piece-a-day project.
2018 / YEAR 2: REMAINS OF THE DAY

 

Memory Palace is a decadelong time-based digital, photography and art jewellery project.

 

The search for meaning in everyday moments continues, with 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 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.
2017 / YEAR 1: MOMENTARILY HERE

 

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. On the contrary, given the chaos in the world, this daily habit was an effort to pause, connect, and reflect for a moment.

IT'S ALWAYS DARKEST JUST BEFORE DAWN
Gray Street Workshop, Adelaide.
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 started with digital documentation that informed a new series of contemporary art jewellery.

THESE MOMENTS EXISTED
Grunwald Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington.

2012-13
 
This exhibition was a photography and contemporary jewellery installation created from 2012 to 2013 that explored everyday moments with 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 experience with this. These Moments Existed was an attempt to cut through the noise and find meaning in the everyday,
THE TEMPORARY NATURE OF THINGS
SoFA Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington.
2007-08


The transcendence presented by the miniature is a special transcendence ... that erases the productive possibilities of understanding through time. Its locus is thereby the nostalgic. - Susan Stewart 

Motivated by the deterioration of memory and its nostalgic representation through miniature objects, made daily for one year. 
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