Internet Archaeology Institute

What does it mean for the transmission of our culture that it largely takes
place on the internet? What will the artefacts of the future look like?
The speculative Internet Archaeology Institute is set out to – literally –
save the internet. It produces artefacts as manifestations of digital cultures
and presents them online. The goal is an active, democratic preservation
of virtual culture that neither discriminates nor excludes.
Everyone is invited to participate.

Visit:
www.internet-archaeology.org

DCA-2118
Harambe Memorial

Type: Statue
Dimensions: 1,05 x 2,15 x 1,05m
Material: Marble, Bronze
Year: 2016

The Institute invites all people to participate in the transmission of digital cultures.
We provide information and resources and present and circulate artifacts.
In this way, we hope to create a new kind of democratic cultural transmission that critically engages
with its material and invites all interested parties to do so as well.
The idea is to reclaim autonomy over one's own cultural expressions,
which have been subjected to the power monopoly of platform operators for too long.

DCA-2103
Captcha Rosetta Stone

Type: Stone plate
Dimensions: 1,14 m x 72 cm x 27 cm
Material: Granodiorite
Year: 2003

In the network, past and present flow together.

On the one hand, the Internet enables access to originally analog,
digitized cultures and cultural assets. This is because numerous museums and libraries
put their collections online for digital viewing.
At the same time, contemporary digital cultural expressions are taking place on the Internet at every second.
People post, comment, or generate data simply by having their behavior and browsing history tracked.
We act and communicate on the network - based on or in opposition to cultural conditioning.
That's why the Internet is a network of cultures - a digital cultural space.

Digital cultures are volatile.

Digital cultural expressions are exposed to several dangers:
First, technical change itself. This makes data carriers and file formats (planned) obsolete.
Second, their own sheer mass. The immeasurable amounts of data that are created every second cannot be conquered,
and certainly not all of them can be stored forever.
The question for our generation will be what is worth preserving and what is not.
Thirdly, digital cultures are mainly subject to the decisions of the platforms from which they spring.
As companies, these platforms have economic interests that take precedence over cultural or preservation concerns at all times.
Thus, data loss, deletion, or corporate acquisitions or liquidations pose real threats to the preservation of digital cultures.
This is where the Institute can step in.