#ThrowbackThursday – a blogpost on the early Music Memory Box

Our Founding Director, Chloe, exhibited Music Memory Box at the Design Museum, London, following her residency there in 2014.  Read this moving review of the exhibition for a throwback!

I start to cry. Maybe two minutes into the approximately five minutes documentary. I try to act casual, after all you should try to pull yourself together when visiting the Design Museum in London. An old man by the name of Adrian Clarke is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Adrian has two sons, Christopher and James, but he keeps mixing them up. They seem to have a good time laughing and making jokes. It’s clear that they are aware about their father’s condition and make an effort to make the best out of it.

Adrian’s granddaughter helps him colour one of the objects from the Music Memory Box bright red, it’s a big ‘2’. When a particular song is played from the box his son persistently asks him about the song. Who made this song? Who is singing, Dad? Look at this ‘2’, what does it stand for?

The reason for Christopher’s stubborn questions is that it is he who made this song, dedicated to Adrian. In the song Christopher attempts to communicate with his father, now and in the later stages of Alzheimer’s. In the lyrics, Christopher points out that his father soon won’t recognise him but he and his brother will still be there for him. They are the two that the ‘2’ stands for.

Chloe Meineck has personal experience of relatives suffering from dementia. Meineck saw how the songs evoke emotional memories in a mind that is usually filled by anxiety and confusion. Music Memory Box makes the identify of the dementia patient accessible to them again. The deisgn increases the living quality of many elderly at the end of their life. Studio Meineck have created a possibility for the dementia patient connect with their own life and share a happy moment with friends and relatives. Can design be more meaningful?

The blog was written by Amanda Karlsson.