The codex, the library, the museum, the archive, the index: All of these are containers for information that we take for granted. In the digital age, these forms infuse the information architectures of the Internet. Despite early design experiments, optimism about the epistemic insurgency of hyper-text, and the belief that the Internet would fundamentally transform modes of communication, digital information is haunted by previous forms and their regulations.
- How might we re-invigorate our approaches to architectures of information with a renewed sense of social relevance and engagement?
- How might we build on not just the design histories of information archiving and retrieval, but also use the histories of contemporary art, including video, performance, and public practice, and their many experiments in information design, as our taking off points?
- Understanding the politics of exclusion of disciplinary canons and dominant media flows, how might we address and build new forms that include rather than exclude?
Based on an understanding of the contemporary forms of the codex – decoding the codex – this group works on collective research-based practices in unfolding architectures of information and the construction of new strategies and social forms of information sharing, including socially engaged exhibitions, online and offline publications, collective art works, and public interventions and events.