illustration : Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No 2 (1847) is known as the ancestor of the computer (courtesy of the Science Museum)

When I started to work on this project, I was interested by the way technologies of all kinds are constantly introduced in our everyday life, sometimes against our will. All these devices simply become a part of the pop culture, and we no longer pay attention to them. Take the mobile phone, for instance... Does anyone remember how our life was like without it?

Media and technologies seem to live their own life: if they are successful, we use them, and ultimately this usage can be really different from what they were made for. But was happens if they're not successful, or simply replaced by new ones?

There are loads of examples of forgotten technologies, which sometimes do not even have their place in a museum. There are even more examples of technologies which have fallen into disuse, if only because the industry planned their obsolescence or expect us to buy some new products. A lot has been said on this idea of dead media.

Obsolete technologies are often used for creative purposes. Artists, musicians, designers... a wide variety of people have been influenced by the 'low tech' trend. Taking the example of music formats, I wanted to know more about this fascination.

Inevitably, thinking about dead technologies leads to another question: Is the content produced thanks to this machinery still readable? And above all, how can we make sure the digital information we produce today is going to be sustainable? For some, the digital Dark Age may be around the corner.