The Ancient Greeks invented the art of memory (personified as Mnemosyne) 2,700 years ago. More than merely a mnemonic device useful to orators, they developed a technique for visually representing the world, which has since nurtured figurative arts and human knowledge.
Focusing on the theme of Mnemosyne, this essay thus reflects on the history of visual thought as revealed by the art of memory, from antiquity through Giordano Bruno, Leibniz and Walter Benjamin to Aby Warburg and digital landscapes. Today, digital culture and its interactive practices provide new possibilities for...