Destruction IV: Matter

Abstract

In the final destruction, the decaying effects of organic bodies, as well as the global conditions that sustain life (light and heat), are considered in relation to the material objects of culture. In Part 1, the question of material destruction is considered in the context of the ethics of the archive. The relationship between digital and analog film and photography is addressed in relation to issues of access and exclusivity, as well as how the choices are made about what is preserved is an act of destruction itself. The apparent durability of the digital dematerialization of the film and photographic archive is then reversed in Part 2, where the non-linear destruction of digital objects (glitches), accelerating obsolescence and digital accumulations create digital cultures less permanent and stable than their analog counterparts.