PROJECT STATEMENT

PUSH BUTTON MEMORIES: LANDMARKS WORLDWIDE

The Push Button Memories Project begins with discovery and fascination that at this moment, at certain places all over the world, people are taking pictures of themselves and their surroundings.

Photographs capture these moments of heightened emotion or awareness. Each time we look at a photograph, we see ourselves in a particular now that once was or appears to have been, and we have the freedom to relive and even restyle that past reality through the filter of the present.

We take photographs, and thereby make shared memories, connecting us and our loved ones to the larger society. Photographs allow us to document these connections, giving us the power to create instant push-button memories.

This behavior is happening everywhere in the world, especially at landmark sites, and the key question is: What are the motivations that bring people to particular places to make their memories?

Landmarks, by definition, contain elements of uniqueness and meaning and novelty that draw people to them. It appears that visitors to these landmarks are members of a global social structure that transcends traditional cultural, ethnic and national boundaries. There is a widely disseminated understanding of the meanings assigned to these locations. The visitors who come to a specific landmark are connected both in that shared understanding of the site's attributes, and in their desire to be associated with the real thing. Photographs serve to authenticate this experience, by providing evidence, both objectively and subjectively.