What Is Media Archaeology?

What are the existential conditions of this thing we use, this expression, or the numerous practices experienced through media, as we sustain our lives? As a relatively new field of research, media archaeology is deeply rooted in everyday life, precisely because it pursues this fundamental question. In 'What is Media Archaeology?', the most current and comprehensive work on the subject, Jussi Parikka explains this by establishing connections with past media. He shows that media archaeology emerged as a way to investigate new media cultures through insights into past new media, by highlighting strange and obscure devices, practices, and inventions that are often forgotten. In doing so, he delves into a wide range of topics, from Steampunk culture to the DIY spirit, from the two traditionally prominent theorists Michel Foucault and Friedrich A. Kittler to the unconventional Walter Benjamin, and from social media to imaginary media.

Parikka does not merely narrate the history of media archaeology; he also puts forward his own theoretical approach. He pursues the question of how communication media appear from the perspective of what is non-communicative, that is, from the viewpoint of noise and interference. He explains that to excavate a media archaeology that addresses what is left out and considered anomalous in the archaeologies of network society and digital culture, one must look at the soft underbelly of communication. Thus, he engages us in the activity of mapping spam, noise, interference, and disconnection.

Jussi Parikka is a professor at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton.