Chiel Van Den Akker: Tradition van-den-akker-tradition-revisited

Tradition (re)visited
Nodem2010
c.vanden.akker@let.vu.nl

thesis
In our present day we first and foremost relate ourselves to tradition by representing it, whereas before we first and foremost related ourselves to tradition by remembering it.
Places of memory are exchanged for the presence of representationin a culture driven by information technology.
Digitalization is part of a larger cultural transformation.

framework:
there are three ways we can relate ourselves to tradition
concepts: authenticity, memory, history & consciousness
the framework helps us to surpass binary oppositions such as ‘’real – virtual’’, ‘’material – immaterial’’ & ‘’original – copy’’

1. Environment of original use value
- tradition
2. Environment of preservation
- archeological site, museum,
memorial, monument
3. Environment of documentation & representation
- description, photograph
- reproduction, reconstruction
- representative object
- visualization (image, video,
reconstruction, 3D model,
GIS & simulation), tags,
search engines, (meta)data
source: www.lascaux.culture.fr/

authenticity
1. Environment of original use value: the domain of tradition
- authenticity = the object’s accumulated history
2. Environment of conservation: the domain of preservation
- authenticity of domain 1 is preserved
3. Environment of documentation: the domain of representation
- authenticity = the object’s documentation

authenticity & binary oppositions
1. Domain of tradition
- authenticity = the object’s accumulated history
- real, material & unique
2. Domain of preservation
- preserving authentic, real, material and unique objects
3. Domain of representation & documentation
- authenticity = the object’s documentation
- virtual, immaterial & reproduction/copy

1. Domain of tradition
habits, gestures skills
natural memory
being in time
- consciousness and tradition are one

2. Domain of preservation
archeological site, museum, memorial, monument
site of memory
what has been and is no longer
first consciousness and tradition separate and become opposites
then the opposition is overcome and preserved in self-consciousness: the object reminds us of what we are no longer

3. Domain of representation & documentation
description, photograph, reproduction, reconstruction
- visualization (image, video, reconstruction, 3D model, GIS & simulation), tags, search engines, (meta)data
- stored memory
about time: as if being in time/showing what it was like
consciousness and tradition are one

thesis

“A generalized critical history would no doubt preserve some museums, some medallions and monuments (...) but it would empty them of what, to us, would make them lieux de mémoire. In the end, a society living wholly under the sign of history could not, any more than could a traditional society, conceive such sites for anchoring its memory.”
Nora “Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire” Representations 26 (1989) pp. 7-24, there p. 9

thesis

but…..
Local environment projects
Augmented Reality

Source: C. van Aart, B. Wielinga, and W. van Hage “Mobile cultural heritage guide:
location-aware semantic search’’ EKAW 2010

Source: http://www.localprojects.net

conclusions
the virtual museum is a documentation-museum
today we relate ourselves to tradition by representing it instead of by remembering it
therefore we can only be critical towards tradition and tradition cannot be critical towards our present
we can be conscious of tradition but tradition cannot be part of our self-consciousness
local environment projects and augmented reality are counter initiatives to this cultural transformation

When will places of memory be exchanged for the presence of representation?
Time will not tell, for only places can

Thank You
c.vanden.akker@let.vu.nl

Chiel Van Den Akker: Tradition van-den-akker-tradition-revisited

by NODEM2 2010 on Nov 25, 2010

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