The Memory Machine: sound and memory at the British Museum

The Memory Machine is a context-, people- and site-specific interactive sound installation. It has been developed as a collaboration between two composers, Cathy Lane and Nye Parry, who share an interest in sound, oral history, and memory. The Memory Machine is an ongoing project which, most recently, was part of the British Museum's 250th anniversary exhibition entitled The Museum of the Mind; Art and Memory in World Cultures.

This paper discusses the background and ideas behind the Memory Machine within the context of the composers' work. The development of the project in collaboration with the British Museum is described and an evaluation of some of the issues around the public exhibition of the piece is given as well as a full technical description of the different elements of the installation.