Microreview: The Big Overview – An Analogue Hinge for Digital Content

Cover Siri Review
Cover, Inventory and Hinge, https://www.diaphanes.net/titel/inventory-and-hinge-7422
Unknown
PDF Detail, Inventory and Hinge, https://www.diaphanes.net/titel/inventory-and-hinge-7422
Date
2023 November
Subtitle
Siri Peyer reviews Inventory and Hinge. Entangled Fields of Research in the Arts. Institute for Contemporary Art Research 2001–2022, Christoph Schenker (Ed.), Diaphanes 2022.
Type
microreview
Author / Publisher
Siri Peyer for NewsLibrary
Author Info

Siri Peyer is a researcher and curator. Since 2015 she has been a research associate at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She researches politically engaged art practices, artistic research, and the art field.

Language

English

Also published here

Newsletter No. 58

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How can over 20 years’ worth of research be summarised? Inventory and Hinge attempts just this, in printed book form with a digital open access counterpart. The richly illustrated publication indexes all the projects carried out at the Institute for Contemporary Art Research since its founding, and lists the most important key data and research output. The question arises as to why such a publication appears in printed form today. Is it our (perhaps nostalgic) preference for the book? Or does the tactile experience of reading it still represent the ideal reception? Wouldn't the format of an online publication allow for more direct linking? Of course, this would require developing different design structures instead of putting the printed version online as a PDF. With the existing project-related funding, such a double-track is probably difficult to achieve. Thus, the search for adequate digital vessels for artistic research output remains an essential task. I find myself flipping through the book, it's exciting to be intrigued by the pictures and at the same time I can see the key data gathered at a glance. The book makes both the diversity of the research projects visible and enables readers to follow the research activities of individual persons. Inventory and Hinge offers an elegant solution to the leap between analogue and digital: the print book hinges to the digital by using QR codes to provide access to further information.