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Ottone, Andrea
Mo. 14-16 Uhr, Format wird noch bekannt gegeben.
Beginn: 18.10.2021
Technological evolution is often made sense of in terms of replacements: a new technology progressively gains dominance over another to finally replace it entirely. This vision often obscures the period of coexistence that the two technologies experience before one eventually become completely obsolete. If we consider technology as a system, or as an aggregate of systems (Thomas Hughes, 1989), changes that may occur in a fragment of the technologic system may bring repercussions to part of the system or to the system as a whole.
This seminar focuses on a single case study in which two competing technologies coexisted and competed for quite a long time, eventually shaping each other. More specifically we will analyze the impact that the mid-15th century invention of the printing press had over the long tradition of mnemotechnic (ars reminiscendi), an immaterial technology used to preserve and organize knowledge. We will frame this case study within the broader picture of Renaissance systems of knowledge organization in the scope of the rough technologic reconfiguration fostered by Gutenberg’s innovation.
