Materialities of Memory in the Contemporary Transition between Print and Post-Print Culture
Sha Xin Wei & Oana Suteu Khintirian
The transition between manuscript and print culture parallels an evolution in the institutions and practices of social and individual memory in relation to the sensorium (memoria was once seen as soul’s greatest ability).
We propose to contribute a perspective from the contemporary transition from print to post-print culture of the sensorium and technologies of writing, and their relation to the materialities of memory. In particular, we examine some contemporary phenomena such as Dishu, ground calligraphy (China), the Moleskine and Sketchmob partnership (Milano), the Quicken sounding paper project (Sha, Khintirian) and the engineering of intelligent paper (P. Mangin).
We explore a rich domain of operations: (1) the externalization of memory, (2) the dematerialization of the institutions and practices of writing, (3) the disembodiment of the subjectifying functions of memory.
As has been well-studied, digital technologies, keyboard, touchscreen, gestural interfaces and mobile computing, come into play with the deterritorialization and reterritorialization of the technologies of memory. A common trope for this is the “modernization” of culture by replacing paper-based technologies of writing wholly by the digital. However, we surface some complexity belying this account by looking in detail at the heterogenous institutions, practices, and sensory experiences that have hybridized or even amalgamated computational with paper-based technologies of writing.
Sha Xin Wei & Oana Suteu Khintirian
The transition between manuscript and print culture parallels an evolution in the institutions and practices of social and individual memory in relation to the sensorium (memoria was once seen as soul’s greatest ability).
We propose to contribute a perspective from the contemporary transition from print to post-print culture of the sensorium and technologies of writing, and their relation to the materialities of memory. In particular, we examine some contemporary phenomena such as Dishu, ground calligraphy (China), the Moleskine and Sketchmob partnership (Milano), the Quicken sounding paper project (Sha, Khintirian) and the engineering of intelligent paper (P. Mangin).
We explore a rich domain of operations: (1) the externalization of memory, (2) the dematerialization of the institutions and practices of writing, (3) the disembodiment of the subjectifying functions of memory.
As has been well-studied, digital technologies, keyboard, touchscreen, gestural interfaces and mobile computing, come into play with the deterritorialization and reterritorialization of the technologies of memory. A common trope for this is the “modernization” of culture by replacing paper-based technologies of writing wholly by the digital. However, we surface some complexity belying this account by looking in detail at the heterogenous institutions, practices, and sensory experiences that have hybridized or even amalgamated computational with paper-based technologies of writing.
