Memory Theatre History Project

Robert Edgar was selected by the Department of Cultural Studies, Humboldt University Berlin, to co-produce an authoritative work about the renaissance of memory theatres, a 16th- century invention that anticipated current computer user interfaces that use iconic and spatial systems for saving and locating data. In 1985, Edgar programmed the world’s first computer-based memory theater, the “Memory Theatre One”.

According to Dr. Peter Matussek and Kirsten Wagner, the researchers involved, “Computers as Theatres of Memory” is an important part of the Sonderforschungsbereich “Cultures of the Performative”. The research project “Computers as Theatres of Memory” is actively researching the history of what has become known as “memory theatres”, originally surfacing briefly between the 16th and 17th century. “We’re very happy to have Robert Edgar and Iconceptual’s engagement with us on this important historical effort….”, said both researchers.

The current work will include the publishing of a book, as the latest collection of material about historical memory theaters and their ancestral relevance to modernity’s digital technology and its impact in today’s world. In a workshop in Berlin for several Humboldt University scholars including Dr. Horst Wenzel; Edgar, Matussek and Wagner previewed a well-received demo version of the electronic version.