Follow the map of memories... Courtesy Bolton Museum and Art Gallery

Kay Carson savours every morsel of a delicious exhibition at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery.

It's always fascinating to watch as seemingly random ingredients are tossed together to produce a delicious result. Debris Field, an eclectic compilation of visual and sonic art, at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery until June 3 2006, has just that kind of feel to it.

First impressions would be: Where on earth do you start? How do you take it all in? There is so much to this concoction - the fruits of 13 very diverse artists - but soon you find yourself savouring every morsel.

Bolton's exhibitions officer, Sarah Teale, explains that, rather than having 13 separate sections, they felt it was better to "merge the pieces". And because they all have just one thing in common - they are all found objects - it works.

Animal skulls sit happily with colourful paintings, text murals and old guitars, while birdsong warbles sporadically from speakers ... above trays of rubble. Rubble? Well, one man's rubbish is another man's treasure. Sarah agrees: "Who gets to say what is debris?"

Keith Rowe, Guitar Retrospective. Courtesy Bolton Museum and Art Gallery

What we are experiencing are fragments of memories. Each artist tells a story of moment in time, some fleeting, some meant to last much longer; and each will resonate with different people in different ways.

Max Eastley's love of kinetics and acoustics come together in Gravity (2005), a small blue square with little beads which click as the mount rotates, echoing quite precisely the sound icebergs make as they melt and crack. It looks simple, but is almost hypnotic in effect.

On the other hand, Russell Mills' work is dark, deeply symbolic and thought-provoking. His use of coal and carbon - the DNA of the universe - and works like The Deep Uncertainty Of Knowing (2004), comprising a Victorian family Bible and razor blades, will strike a chord with those familiar with the wrestling of religion and science.

Musician Keith Rowe's Guitar Retrospective is a delightful piece designed to bring a wistful, nostalgic smile to the lips. Each of his three old instruments comes with its own scattered entourage, providing a social commentary of the era. The clunky radio of the 1960s montage upgrades to a sleek little silver gadget by the 1990s; loose change gives way to an American Express card and the now-ubiquitous mobile phone only makes its first appearance by the third piece. Accompanying headphones allow you to listen to Rowe performing on each guitar. This is a quirky and touching homage to his beloved discipline.

Remember those glass tubes you could fill with coloured sand? Courtesy Bolton Museum and Art Gallery

Music is given a different slant by artist Phil Mouldycliff, creator of Tide Frames, a series of mixed-media works serving as a visual score, with a merging of dance steps and manuscripts.

Mouldycliff says: "I do not feel the desire to produce work - which in itself is a public statement - when the effect I hope that it has on the individual is essentially a private experience."

There was one glass case which hit me on a personal level. Paul Mason's collection of dust and rubble could raise a few eyebrows. Yet the debris in question was tiny remnants of Morecambe's Midland Hotel. A once-glorious, art deco landmark on the Lancashire coast, it has lain derelict for the past few years but is now in line for a £7.1 million renaissance.

I was the resident singer there many, many summer seasons ago. I was stunned to rediscover the turquoise and white colours which used to adorn the outside, along with its iconic seahorses, now just slivers of plaster, sitting on a tray, accompanied by an old postcard of the resort.

Stranger still, there was also an old Morecambe map focusing on the very street where the local newspaper - scene of my first job - was and still is situated.

Happy memories.

And that is what Debris Field is all about.

Kay Carson is taking part in the 24 Hour Museum MGM student journalist writing prize. More details...