Your browser does not support the video tag.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
Marco Cadioli - The Whirlpool
  • © ARSHAKE | ISSN 2283-3676
  • CONTACT
  • Login
Arshake
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT US
    • PROJECT
    • MEDIA/PARTNERSHIPS
    • CONTACT US
  • FOCUS
    • All
    • focus
    • From the Past
    • Interview
    RE:HUMANISM Art Prize: SPARKS AND FRICTIONS

    RE:HUMANISM Art Prize: SPARKS AND FRICTIONS

    Enrico Pulsoni 1975-2021

    Enrico Pulsoni 1975-2021

    FLASHBACK ONSTAGE at Paola Di Mitri

    FLASHBACK ONSTAGE at Paola Di Mitri

    Inhabiting No Man’s Land

    Inhabiting No Man’s Land

    transmediale 2023

    transmediale 2023

    From the Middle Ages to Videogames

    From the Middle Ages to Videogames

    Pier Paolo Pasolini. Tutto è santo – Il corpo veggente

    Pier Paolo Pasolini. Tutto è santo – Il corpo veggente

    Silvia Camporesi. Mirabilia

    Silvia Camporesi. Mirabilia

    Il Pianeta Mente / The Planet Mind

    Il Pianeta Mente / The Planet Mind

  • FRAME
    FRAME > WoodArc

    FRAME > WoodArc

    FRAME > SWARM

    FRAME > SWARM

    FRAME > Round Balance

    FRAME > Round Balance

    FRAME > ROBOTa

    FRAME > ROBOTa

    FRAME > I could speak once under two moons

    FRAME > I could speak once under two moons

    FRAME > The Space Within

    FRAME > The Space Within

    FRAME > pi(x)el

    FRAME > pi(x)el

    FRAME > Letters to Frank Stella

    FRAME > Letters to Frank Stella

    FRAME > Inflatables

    FRAME > Inflatables

  • VIDEO POST
    VIDEO POST > Tales of Entropy

    VIDEO POST > Tales of Entropy

    VIDEO POST > Vague Boundaries

    VIDEO POST > Vague Boundaries

    VIDEO POST > JAZZ POP CORN

    VIDEO POST > JAZZ POP CORN

    VIDEO POST > BITTER MEDICINE

    VIDEO POST > BITTER MEDICINE

    VIDEO POST > The on-chain

    VIDEO POST > The on-chain

    VIDEO POST > Plant machete

    VIDEO POST > Plant machete

    VIDEO POST > Drei Schreiber

    VIDEO POST > Drei Schreiber

    VIDEO POST > Lluvias de Mayo

    VIDEO POST > Lluvias de Mayo

    VIDEO POST > The Chiromancer

    VIDEO POST > The Chiromancer

  • SPECIAL PROJECT
    • ARSHAKE’S BANNER
    • CRITICAL GROUNDS
    • YOUNG ITALIAN ARTISTS
    • GAME OVER
      • GAME OVER • Loading
      • GAME OVER • CALL FOR IDEAS (5.0)
    • EXTERNAL PROJECTS
      • BACKSTAGE | ONSTAGE
      • PERCORSI • 6 years of the Terna Prize
      • TEMPO IMPERFETTO
  • RESOURCES
    • CALLS
    • ARCHIVE
    • ONLINE RESOUCES
  • it IT
  • en English
No Result
View All Result
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT US
    • PROJECT
    • MEDIA/PARTNERSHIPS
    • CONTACT US
  • FOCUS
    • All
    • focus
    • From the Past
    • Interview
    RE:HUMANISM Art Prize: SPARKS AND FRICTIONS

    RE:HUMANISM Art Prize: SPARKS AND FRICTIONS

    Enrico Pulsoni 1975-2021

    Enrico Pulsoni 1975-2021

    FLASHBACK ONSTAGE at Paola Di Mitri

    FLASHBACK ONSTAGE at Paola Di Mitri

    Inhabiting No Man’s Land

    Inhabiting No Man’s Land

    transmediale 2023

    transmediale 2023

    From the Middle Ages to Videogames

    From the Middle Ages to Videogames

    Pier Paolo Pasolini. Tutto è santo – Il corpo veggente

    Pier Paolo Pasolini. Tutto è santo – Il corpo veggente

    Silvia Camporesi. Mirabilia

    Silvia Camporesi. Mirabilia

    Il Pianeta Mente / The Planet Mind

    Il Pianeta Mente / The Planet Mind

  • FRAME
    FRAME > WoodArc

    FRAME > WoodArc

    FRAME > SWARM

    FRAME > SWARM

    FRAME > Round Balance

    FRAME > Round Balance

    FRAME > ROBOTa

    FRAME > ROBOTa

    FRAME > I could speak once under two moons

    FRAME > I could speak once under two moons

    FRAME > The Space Within

    FRAME > The Space Within

    FRAME > pi(x)el

    FRAME > pi(x)el

    FRAME > Letters to Frank Stella

    FRAME > Letters to Frank Stella

    FRAME > Inflatables

    FRAME > Inflatables

  • VIDEO POST
    VIDEO POST > Tales of Entropy

    VIDEO POST > Tales of Entropy

    VIDEO POST > Vague Boundaries

    VIDEO POST > Vague Boundaries

    VIDEO POST > JAZZ POP CORN

    VIDEO POST > JAZZ POP CORN

    VIDEO POST > BITTER MEDICINE

    VIDEO POST > BITTER MEDICINE

    VIDEO POST > The on-chain

    VIDEO POST > The on-chain

    VIDEO POST > Plant machete

    VIDEO POST > Plant machete

    VIDEO POST > Drei Schreiber

    VIDEO POST > Drei Schreiber

    VIDEO POST > Lluvias de Mayo

    VIDEO POST > Lluvias de Mayo

    VIDEO POST > The Chiromancer

    VIDEO POST > The Chiromancer

  • SPECIAL PROJECT
    • ARSHAKE’S BANNER
    • CRITICAL GROUNDS
    • YOUNG ITALIAN ARTISTS
    • GAME OVER
      • GAME OVER • Loading
      • GAME OVER • CALL FOR IDEAS (5.0)
    • EXTERNAL PROJECTS
      • BACKSTAGE | ONSTAGE
      • PERCORSI • 6 years of the Terna Prize
      • TEMPO IMPERFETTO
  • RESOURCES
    • CALLS
    • ARCHIVE
    • ONLINE RESOUCES
No Result
View All Result
Arshake
No Result
View All Result
Home News focus

The Museum of Working Computers

Michela Ruggeri by Michela Ruggeri
09/10/2018
in focus
The Museum of Working Computers

We all know that the technological society of our time is running fast, and the devices we use quickly become obsolete. A thought that may rarely occur to us is that the computers we use today, which were created around seventy years ago, already have their own prehistory. What has become of these initial prototypes? How were they made? Where are they now? And most importantly… do they still work?

In Southern Italy – in Sicily, a region well-known for other types of ruins entirely – there is a very peculiar place which is now extremely valuable for the purposes of the research and documentation of a very specific sector of industrial archaeology: it is known as “The Museum of Working Computers”.

This was the result of the work of members of Freaknet Medialab, which was founded in 1994 as the first free laboratory in Italy to provide free access to email and the Internet; Dyne.org, a foundry for Free Software programmers; Poetry Hacklab, a free computer workshop in Palazzolo Acreide, a village 40km from Syracuse.

Their website clearly explains the work they do, which is admired by both UNESCO and the Free Software Foundation: “those who visit us, both in person and via the Internet, can use historical computers, find out about their history, learn the basics of electronics and computer science, and share in a part of the journey we are taking. A place where we can preserve, repair, save, digitise and share online a heritage of hardware, but also documentation, software, electrical schematics, books and various kinds of media”. Nearly 2000 historical computers have been collected, many of which are working or awaiting repair. They also offer a training component: for example, they organise basic electronics courses.

The museum in question wants to free itself from the idea – which has now actually been overcome in this specific field – that it merely resembles a container of objects to be observed at a somewhat religious distance. Rather, it encourages visitors to use the historical computers so as to increase the educational effect of the experience, approaching the objects in a playful and curious way, in line with the typical hacker attitude.

If what has been said by theorists and practitioners is true, namely that our hyperconnected yet ultimately fragmented technological society is leaving in its wake a “digital desert” where the records of our lives risk being lost in the oblivion of bits which can no longer be interpreted in the future, then the Museum of Working Computers takes on an even greater value.

The prehistory of the Internet has been the subject of study and research for a long time, and there are many cultural institutions which have engaged in bringing back or keeping alive the works created by the artists of the Internet and new media in general. In practice, one of the biggest problems is the actual preservation itself. On the one hand, there are creations for which the principle of obsolescence is inherent to their nature, but on the other lies a need to trace the history of the art, to make a record for the ages, to reconstruct a picture of the past which can be studied and interpreted at the right historical distance.

The issue still remains unsolved, but it is comforting to know that there is an institution like the Museum of Working Computers – innovative and valuable in terms of the breadth and rarity of its collection – which has been founded to benefit the history of the digital age of which we are currently the brash and prolific protagonists.


The Museum of Working Computers, Palazzolo Acreide, Siracusa, Italy
Tags: arshakeMichela RuggeriMuseo dell'informatica funzionante
ShareTweetShareSend
Previous Post

Call for works > ALGORITHMIC SPACES

Next Post

Open Codes. en Codes. The World as a Field of Data

Next Post
Open Codes. en Codes. The World as a Field of Data

Open Codes. en Codes. The World as a Field of Data

CALLS

RE:HUMANISM Art Prize: SPARKS AND FRICTIONS
Calls

RE:HUMANISM Art Prize: SPARKS AND FRICTIONS

01/02/2023
Terna.  Driving Energy Prize
Calls

Terna. Driving Energy Prize

13/06/2022
Call for submissions>  Research grant for Italian Art
Calls

Call for submissions> Research grant for Italian Art

07/04/2022
Call for submissions> ISPA (Italian Sustainability Photo Award)
Calls

Call for submissions> ISPA (Italian Sustainability Photo Award)

17/02/2022

CRITICAL GROUNDS

Critical Gounds #13 – Massimo Maiorino, The Artist as Archaeologist.
Critical Grounds

Critical Gounds #13 – Massimo Maiorino, The Artist as Archaeologist.

08/07/2020
Critical Gounds #12 – Filiberto Menna «PROGETTARE» IL FUTURO
Critical Grounds

Critical Gounds #12 – Filiberto Menna «PROGETTARE» IL FUTURO

26/11/2019
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Arshake is a collaborative artistic project, blurring the borders between art, science and technology, information and production.

  • Focus
  • Video post
  • Frame
  • Special Project
  • Interview
  • Calls
  • Exhibitions

One more step - Check your email and click the confirmation link

© 2012-2022 – ARSHAKE

No Result
View All Result
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT US
    • PROJECT
    • MEDIA/PARTNERSHIPS
    • CONTACT US
  • FOCUS
  • FRAME
  • VIDEO POST
  • SPECIAL PROJECT
    • ARSHAKE’S BANNER
    • CRITICAL GROUNDS
    • YOUNG ITALIAN ARTISTS
    • GAME OVER
      • GAME OVER • Loading
      • GAME OVER • CALL FOR IDEAS (5.0)
    • EXTERNAL PROJECTS
      • BACKSTAGE | ONSTAGE
      • PERCORSI • 6 years of the Terna Prize
      • TEMPO IMPERFETTO
  • RESOURCES
    • CALLS
    • ARCHIVE
    • ONLINE RESOUCES

© 2012-2022 – ARSHAKE

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.