Off the Record

In ancient Rome, the practice of damnatio memoriae (condemnation of memory) was the ultimate punishment: any trace, record, and depiction of an individual’s existence was expunged from collective memory. Even today, we demand for public figures to be “canceled” when they have breached certain moral codes and for monuments to be torn down when they represent repugnant prejudices and condemnable crimes.

When every move is seemingly documented, recorded, and bought and sold, however, the power, and perhaps impossibility, of total erasure takes on new value. Whether in the height of the Cold War or in the morass of contemporary social media, the ability to redact becomes a necessity and a privilege. Removing something from the record is, moreover, as powerful an act as refusing admittance to it. Many in the world today, whole peoples and nations, are still fighting for the right to exist, be seen, heard, and recorded for posterity.

Does control over what is off the record, through expungement or omission, remain the supreme force of power that the ancient Romans believed it was?

Some of the questions that we ask include: What is the record and who gets to decide if something is removed from it? Is the ability to be forgotten a right or a privilege? Should we be able to control our own record, as the European “right to be forgotten” affirms? Is it still possible to exist without leaving a trace? What is the lifespan of things recorded digitally? Should they have an expiration date? A statute of limitations? Is there erasure through excess? Does canceling (people) or tearing down (monuments) serve a valuable social function? Is damnatio memoriae still possible? In today’s world, would it be considered a punishment or a gift? How is power wielded through record-keeping and -erasing? How can we have better accountability for those who abuse this power?

This Salon took place on December 9th, 2024.