Aide Mémoire is a collaborative project with Tom Flint (Edinburgh Napier University), conceived as a device for preserving and engaging with family memories across generations. The artefact is presented as a fully functioning object from a bygone era, framing recorded anecdotes as something discovered rather than newly produced. Interaction is primarily sonic, with participants listening to voices from past generations in a way that has been likened to overhearing conversations from another time.
The box contains recordings spanning several generations of a family, which can be accessed by tuning into individual anecdotes. This mode of interaction supports a tacit, cross-generational narrative rather than a fixed linear account. Two additional dials allow participants to introduce atmospheric sounds and music, enabling adjustment of the emotional tone of the experience. In use, this afforded control over how memories were encountered, ranging from subdued and reflective to more playful or dramatic interpretations.