Media Archaeology

About this programme

Many of the media technologies we live with today have unexpected, untold, and even whimsical histories. That is, media history is often presented as a series of successful inventions and inventors. However, media history is also full of weird failures, forgotten gadgets, strange experiments, and imagined futures. Instead of allowing these to disappear, neither from our memories nor from our material lives, media archaeology will help you understand how such overlooked histories and technologies still have a surprising impact on our contemporary digital lives. You do not need to have previous experience of media archaeology to enjoy this course. Its relevance and applicability spans over several fields, and speaks to both master level students and doctoral students. The course looks at the intricate temporal relations that exists in between new and old media technologies. In this course the concept "new media" is questioned and contemporary digital cultures are put in a historical perspective. During the course students will examine forgotten, overlooked, recycled, debunked and imagined media technologies as well as the myths, hopes and hesitations surrounding those. A strong focus will be on how media materiality, functionality and design could be seen as coordinating political, social and cultural practice. - In-depth understanding and analytical ability regarding societal and time-related myths, hopes and concernsabout (digital) media technologies. The teaching formats include not only traditional lectures, but also old-school programming and innovative design exer