Information You Could Hold in Your Hand

"I knew what it contained: an archive of computer-generated images from grad school, the product of late nights and weekends in the computer lab. The tape drive that could read it was long gone. I held the data representing those images literally in my hand, but it was locked away in metal and plastic. I became obsessed with the idea of media that, unlike books or paintings, held information that could be extracted only through the intervention of a device."

"I am a collector. Therefore, that obsession turned into a collection. But I'm interested in more than filling gaps on a shelf. These objects are an entry into hundreds of years of technological and cultural history. Their content expresses all the great themes of history: work, religion, art, war, sex, gender, race, business, entertainment. Some are beautiful, some clever, some simply perplexing. Assembled in one place, connections are revealed and the process of innovation begins to emerge."

"The definitions bounding this collection are somewhat loose. The device required to extract information from the medium may be as simple as a pair of 3D glasses. The content needn't be completely hidden-it's possible to hold a slide up to the light and view it with the naked eye-but a device is required to experience that content as intended. The media are removable in the sense that they can be transported and stored independently of the device."

A found late-1980s computer tape cassette contained an archive of computer-generated images inaccessible without obsolete hardware. Removable media often require specific devices to extract intended content, which can be as simple as 3D glasses or as complex as long-discontinued tape drives. Such objects embody technological and cultural history, expressing themes like work, religion, art, war, gender and race. Collections of these media reveal connections across time and illustrate innovation processes. Most items were commercially sold briefly, while some remained prototypes. Emphasis is placed on items that have been used and that contain actual content.

Read at Tangiblemediacollection