Publication reflecting on the work of contemporary artists who explore the collision between the digital and physical worlds. These artists take a step back, using decontextualization, rematerialization and displacement tactics to examine the future of our world. Through a collection of interviews with and essays by artists and theoreticians, this book develops the reflections generated during the eponymous exhibition.
As the different assets of human culture become progressively dematerialized, and are archived in faraway data centers, we become ever more absorbed by our screens and depend on the mediation of increasingly complex and black-boxed algorithms. In response to this process, a curious counter-movement has emerged in the fields of art and design. Instead of following the trend of dematerialization, artists and designers have been reversing it by decontextualizing and rematerializing digital native elements. Out of their context, these uncanny elements gain a new tangible materiality, appearing in public spaces, in galleries or in the middle of nature. As they leave their native environment, they lose their functionality and become elements for contemplation that attempt to break the spell of transparent design.
Through a collection of interviews with and essays by artists and theoreticians, this book develops the reflections generated during the exhibition.
Published following the eponymous exhibition at Shadok, Strasbourg, from March 8 to June 5, 2016.
Edited by Lucile Haute, the “liteʁal” series brings together digital and printed publications, in English and French, dedicated to contemporary art, design, and academic research in these fields. Each book in the series is the subject of graphic, typographic, and interactive experiments. The series is part of an experimental project lead by the EnsadLab, from the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs — Université PSL.
Edited by Filipe Pais.
Texts by Aram Bartholl, James Bridle, Vincent Broquaire, Dominique Cardon, Martin De Bie, Julien Fargeton, Darko Fritz, Igor Galligo, Patricia Gouveia, Lucile Haute, Peter Jellitsch, Albertine Meunier, Esther Polak, Domenico Quaranta, Alexandre Saunier, Bernard Stiegler, Ivan Twohig, Clément Valla, Ivar Van Bekkum, Thierry Verbeeck.
Graphic design: EnsadLab and Jean-François Boulan.
