Earliest Memory Archive is a soundproof booth with a screen where visitors navigate anonymous earliest memories from around the world, and submit their own. Each memory ends in a verbal caption with the participant sharing the city, country, and year of the event, often adding a jolt of surprise when the caption information contradicts an assumption. On the glass door of the booth is the phrase "humanize the void." The project seeks to connect us—across time and geography—to others and to past selves. Although based in “story,” the archive suggests something less linear: the overall ambiguity of memory conjures different possible pasts and futures, and different ways identity might be located within each self, and amongst community.
About Laura Schneider
Laura Schneider splits her time between Brooklyn, New York and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Working across disciplines, her art practice challenges personal and historical narratives through portraying the complexities of memory, language, the archive, and the ego. Schneider holds a Master’s in Art Education for Social Justice (NYU, 2011) and a Master’s in Fine Arts in Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice (City College, 2015). Since 2011, Schneider has taught in many spaces including prisons and probation centers, public schools, and colleges. She is currently Senior Lecturer of Visual Art and Associate Director of the MFA in Art & Media at New York University Abu Dhabi. Schneider is a long-term resident artist at The Invisible Dog Art Center (Brooklyn, NY) and has enjoyed showing work in fascinating places, including Berlin, Venice, Sydney, Almería, Sharjah, São Paulo, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.
Website: lauraschneiderartwork.com
Instagram: @lauraschneiderartwork
On View
March 5–April 2, 2022
Admission
Free
Proof of full vaccination + booster is required to enter the space.
Location
51 Bergen St.
Gallery Hours
Thursday–Saturday: 1–7pm
Sunday: 1–5pm