Reviving the Ancient Memory Arts: An Act of Resistance with Eleanor Robins

Thursday March 12th
Doors & drinks at 6.30pm; Talks starts 7pm

This event is now fully booked. We do not have a waiting list.

In the modern age, it’s easy, and can seem harmless, to outsource memory to databases, photography, AI, and even tech as simple as books and the written word. But the pre-moderns knew that memory is far more than just a mechanical function. They understood it as the source of creativity and imagination, a vital way of relating to land, a living repository of ancestral wisdom, and more.

In this talk, writer and independent scholar Eleanor Robins will offer a fresh and urgent picture of what we’ve lost by forgetting our memories, suggesting that rediscovering memory practices is a powerful form of resistance in the current paradigm shift. Then we’ll put these ideas into practice, using a selection of memory arts to collectively memorise a short poem.

Eleanor writes about imagination and the possibility that we’re living through a paradigm shift in consciousness, primarily through Substack, where she is currently running the World Swallowers’ Memory Club, a group devoted to memorising poetry as an act of resistance.

Eleanor previously spoke at Kairos in November 2024 on "A New Cosmology: Feeling Our Way into the Imaginal".

Her talk will be followed by a one-pot vegan supper and discussion.

Kairos, 84 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4TG

Doors open at 6.30pm for drinks. Talks starts at 7pm. 

£8 Frequent Visitor and Supporter Members; £15 Standard (includes Community Members); £10 Struggling financially; £8 Under 30s; £20 with Donation. Food complimentary. (To find out more about membership, visit our Membership page.)

Before requesting a discounted ticket, please consider sincerely: Are you struggling to meet your basic needs? Would you have to make a genuine sacrifice to buy a full priced ticket? Do you have reduced earnings through a lifestyle choice or rather because you're dedicating your time to unpaid work relating to the climate and nature crises or as a result of structural inequality? If you're struggling to pay even the reduced price please contact us on events@kairos.london.

Please note that most of our events take place in our basement space and we do not have a lift so our venue is not fully accessible. Please get in touch if you have accessibility issues via events@kairos.london.

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