Retrogressive Art in the Digital Age

Hugo Camargo
Masterarbeit, 2014
Interface Cultures "Neo-Retro: Retrogressive Art in the Digital Age" raises questions regarding cultural memory, nostalgia, political resistance strategies and the notion of authenticity. Retrogressive art disconnects itself from technology deification by glorifying forgotten media and exploring early digital aesthetics, controversially blurring the line between technophobia and techno-fetishism. Technological progress accelerates faster than ever before. and many devices are born already doomed to fade and become obsolete, even before we are able to truly incorporate them to our routines. This frenetic velocity may unchain an array of issues that range from changes on human behavior to drastic environmental impacts. Yet, despite the relentless power of techno-progressivism, we witness the rise of a retrogressive impulse in all contemporary art forms. The revival of the vinyl, the increasing popularity of low-fi analog photography practices and other activities attempting to rediscover old-fashioned media seem to celebrate imperfection in a panorama of an apparent obsession for a sterile perfection.