Heritage Landscapes vol.52
Heritage Landscapes is the Promemoria Group newsletter created to observe the contemporary heritage landscape. Twice a month we share the most interesting news and the most innovative projects, investigating those archival stories that turn an object, a brand or an insight, into a legend.
Between architecture, design, fashion, food, technology. With no limit to our curiosity.
Between architecture, design, fashion, food, technology. With no limit to our curiosity.
1. The Long View
The Art of Preserving Sounds
Since modern technologies like digital devices and touchscreens have made all our actions quieter, we have lost sounds that once characterized everyday human gestures… This is the inspiration behind Conserve the Sound, an online museum that serves as a digital archive dedicated to preserving sounds produced by obsolete or disappearing technologies.
The site, which can be navigated chronologically, collects the mechanical and analog sounds of 20th-century objects, focusing primarily on European-made products, yet featuring sounds that hold universal significance. Rotary-dial telephones, dial-up modems, typewriters, film cameras, and cassette recorders are just a few of the items available.
The site, which can be navigated chronologically, collects the mechanical and analog sounds of 20th-century objects, focusing primarily on European-made products, yet featuring sounds that hold universal significance. Rotary-dial telephones, dial-up modems, typewriters, film cameras, and cassette recorders are just a few of the items available.
Funded by the Film & Medienstiftung NRW, the project, in addition to audio samples, includes video interviews with scholars, technicians, and public figures discussing the link between sound memory and technology, thereby preserving the identity of mechanical devices that modern technology is rendering obsolete.
2. Augmented Craft
An interactive encyclopedia that organizes over 4 million images from the archives of the American magazine LIFE; LIFE Tags is a photo archive that uses machine learning for automatic image classification: Google’s ICA (Image Content-based Annotation) algorithm, based on deep neural networks, generates tags by analyzing the pixels in the frames and, using “nearest neighbor” technology, groups the tags into related categories. The archive can be explored through thousands of tags and categories, making the search experience unexpected and fun.
3. Seen & Noted
When two icons of Italian craftsmanship come together, the result is bound to be something truly unique: Persol and Cassina have launched a collaboration that blends design, craftsmanship, and innovation in an ongoing dialogue between heritage and modernity.
Iconic lines, material exploration, and meticulous design define a project that celebrates Italian craftsmanship through a refined aesthetic language. The Persol acetate eyewear, accompanied by a pocket organizer designed by Patricia Urquiola, designer and art director at Cassina, create a synergy that goes beyond a simple collaboration: a shared vision destined to leave its mark.
Iconic lines, material exploration, and meticulous design define a project that celebrates Italian craftsmanship through a refined aesthetic language. The Persol acetate eyewear, accompanied by a pocket organizer designed by Patricia Urquiola, designer and art director at Cassina, create a synergy that goes beyond a simple collaboration: a shared vision destined to leave its mark.
Credits: Conserve the Sound, Google Arts & Culture, Persol, Cassina.
“Fashion archives, like all archives, are always open to different interpretations, and the value of every object, garment, and document lies in the eye of the beholder, shaped by the times in which we live.”
- Stefano Tonchi, Guest Editor-in-Chief of ARCHIVIO N°9
- Stefano Tonchi, Guest Editor-in-Chief of ARCHIVIO N°9