socio-cultural contexts.9 Moreover, Halbwachs argues that the past is not really
preserved in the individual memory, as it contains only 'fragments' but not com
plete recollections. According to Halbwachs, the collective memory or a coherent
image of the past is thus composed of the representations of several individual
consciousnesses.10 But in order for the collective memory to exist, the individuals
must contribute to it. This theory of how merged fragments of individual memory
can contribute to a coherent recollection of collective memory is extremely useful
for the understanding of Forum's memory. Indeed, it is composed of a multiplicity
of individuals; participants, artists, visitors and organisers, whose memories all
merge into a collective memory of Forum. In addition, Halbwachs stresses the topo
graphical aspects of cultural memory, which he classifies as lieux de mémoire.11
The collective and cultural memory
The next step in comprehending this theory is to realize that notions of 'cultural'
or 'collective' as used in this research paper proceed from an active working met
aphor. This is because the concept of 'remembering' takes place in the mind of an
individual and is subsequently transferred to the level of culture. In other words:
memory is constantly in the making. The metaphorical idea of memory is often
translated as a 'nation's memory', a 'religious community's memory', or even as
'literature's memory'. This observation leads to the crucial realisation that there is
a distinction between the individual and the collective aspect of memory studies.
As Jeffrey K. Olick puts it; 'two radically different concepts of culture are involved
here, one that sees culture as a subjective category of meanings contained in peo
ple's minds versus one that sees culture as patterns of publicly available symbols
objectified in society.'12 Olick thus touches upon the two different levels of cultural
memory: the individual or the cognitive on the one hand and the collective or so
cial on the other. These different aspects are obviously not separated entities, but
are intertwined in the creation of cultural memory. This is evident from the fact
that individual memory is never 'purely individual, but always inherently shaped
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The Art of Remembering Forum: the Local Memory
9 Jean-Christophe Marcel and Laurent Mucchielli, Maurice Halbwachs's mémoire collective. In:
Astrid Erll, Ansgar Nünning, Sara B. Young (eds), Cultural Memory Studies: An International
and Interdisciplinary Handbook. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2008, 142.
10 Marcel and Mucchielli, Maurice Halbwachs's mémoire collective, 142-143.
11 Erll, Cultural Memory Studies, 8.
12 Jeffrey K. Olick, From Collective Memory to the Sociology of Mnemoic Practices and Pro
ducts. In: Astrid Erll, Ansgar Nünning, Sara B. Young (eds), Cultural Memory Studies: An
International and Interdisciplinary Handbook. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2008, 336.
