Memory Library

Memory Library opens at Boathouse 5, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on 14 November and runs through to 21 November. It's a pop-up museum that looks at art, technology, and their role in memory and storytelling, and it's the lifelong project of Portsmouth artist and creative director Thomas Buckley. Buckley is a former Royal Shakespeare Company Fellow whose work with augmented and virtual reality, projection and immersive theatre asks how technology reshapes the way we remember, live and communicate. He's built the pop-up around the traditional role of the library as a home for stories and ideas, and he envisions it growing into a permanent museum and cultural space dedicated to memory, technology, storytelling and human connection.

Inside, you walk through handcrafted installations inspired by familiar settings: a cosy bedroom, a rain-soaked park bench, a windswept beach, a greenhouse and a boat. You're invited to add your own stories to an evolving archive as you go. At the heart of it is Recollect Together, which pairs people from across the city to share memories through conversation prompts. The work is Buckley's, but it's joined by new pieces from local artists Hannah Matthews, María de la O Garrido and Owain Davies, as well as international practitioners from Bangladesh, Egypt, Lebanon and Malta.

The project is part of Portsmouth100 and We Shine Community, the free citywide light festival launched by Portsmouth Creates in 2021. From 19 to 21 November, the pop-up opens late, and the Dockyard's architecture is transformed by large-scale light projections drawing on its own archive. Entry is free and no booking is required, so you can just turn up whenever suits you between the 14th and the 21st.