MEMENTO

Memento is a 2000 American neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan.  Leonard Shelby, a man with anterograde amnesia, which impairs his ability to store new memories,  has developed a system for recollection using hand-written notes, tattoos, and Polaroid photos. Memento chronicles Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers.

Please write a response considering the narrative structure of the film as well as how it relates to the concepts of a temporal labyrinth. This is to be posted to your blog and be about one page long.

Linear vs. Non Linear Time

Linear Time-  A linear process or development is one in which something changes or progresses straight from one stage to another, and has a starting point and an ending point. 
English Dictionary

In other words, it can be seen as the direct forward relationship of the past turning into the present which turns into the future, all uninterrupted nor meandering. The beginning precedes the middle which precedes the end. Linear progression implies that the process builds off the previous stage in a clear development (it does not circle back!)

One artist to be aware of with this concept is Bill Viola. He works in video often presenting a slowed down perspective of an event. This incremental approach to speed lengthens the duration of the event, offering a fresh opportunity to experience it. Micro rhythms are made visible, a density and tectonic sensibility is given to minute gestures. Below are several links or videos relating to Bill Viola. 

"The Greeting"

Click here to hear Bill Viola talking about "The Greeting" from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

For additional background on Bill Viola, please to listen to an interview- "Cameras are Soul Keepers"

Christian Marclay's "The Clock" is consider a masterpiece about Time. Using disparate clips from movies he organized them into a coherent linear progression of the the time displayed in each scene. Striping the scene of its context and purpose, he backgrounded them to highlight the passage of time on the screen- literally making a clock that ran in sync withe the 24 hour day. 

Please click here to read a New Yorker profile about the artist and the work.

Below is an excerpt of "The Clock"

NON- LINEAR TIME

Presenting non- linear time involves breaking from the single direction of time's arrow. Putting aside the logical progression from point A to point B in time, we break time by rearranging moments, going backwards, repetition, looping, changing durations and speeds and create multiple branch offs or progressions.

 The physical concept of a book is called a codex- a manuscript held together by stitching, essentially an arrangement of pages that reads in one direction. At one point in history these replaced scrolls, tablets, etc. As the nature of information, language, technology change, the format transforms. The examples below of artist books show a clear divergence or challenge to the normal scheme of a book. Its linear time nature is secondary to its physical make up, content is therefore chaotic and irregularly placed.

Artist Book

 Artist Book

Maya Lin

 Maya Lin

Painters have been engaging with time since the mediums inception. Within this frozen image is a world, there is a sequence of elements that we read, possible narratives or non- linear image based content. The sense of the passage can melt away as the viewer looks at a painting. The image could be 'without' time or make us keenly aware of our experience of time. Regardless, the act of looking accesses our time sensibilities and painting can orchestrate our perception of this.

 Di Chirico

DiChirico's paintings offer a sense of time that never changes, a moment that is endless, or a suspension of time.

Neo Rauch

By contrast Neo Rauch's Paintings, while having no narrative, give the sense that all time is happening simultaneously.

 Neo Rauch

Labyrinth with no Walls

Labyrinth-

1.

an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit. Synonyms: maze, network, web.

2.

a maze of paths bordered by high hedges, as in a park or garden, for the amusement of those who search for a way out.

3.

a complicated or tortuous arrangement, as of streets or buildings. Synonyms: warren, maze, jungle, snarl, tangle, knot.

4.

any confusingly intricate state of things or events; a bewildering complex: His papers were lost in an hellish bureaucratic labyrinth. After the death of her daughter, she wandered in a labyrinth of sorrow for what seemed like a decade. Synonyms: wilderness, jungle, forest; morass.

5. ( initial capital letter ) Classical Mythology . a vast maze built in Crete by Daedalus, at the command of King Minos, to house the Minotaur

Jorge Luis Borges -(1899 – 1986) an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. His work embraces the "character of unreality in all literature".^[1] His best-known books, Ficciones (Fictions) and The Aleph (El Aleph), published in the 1940s, are compilations of short stories interconnected by common themes, including dreams, labyrinths, libraries, mirrors, fictional writers, philosophy, and religion.
-Wikipedia

Please read the short story by Borges entitled "Circular Ruins" and "The Library of Babel". Click here to go to the PDF. The story begins on page 214 and 251 respectively. Please compose a short written response to the story considering the concept of a labyrinths (and the numerous forms of a labyrinth in the story).

In addition, consider the story of King Sisyphus from "The Odyssey". As Odysseus enters Hades to consult the blind prophet Tiresius, the first tormented soul he encounters is Sisyphus, punished by the gods for repeatedly tricking them and escaping death/ Hades.

“And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone with both his hands. With hands and feet he' tried to roll it up to the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over on to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the pitiless stone would come thundering down again on to the plain” (Homer).