The Curious Afterlives of a Flexible Medium

This volume explores the curious afterlives of the floppy disk in the 21st century through the work of those involved with the medium today.

The book reflects on notions of obsolescence, media preservation and nostalgia, and challenges these by showing the endurance and versatility of this familiar piece of technology. From floppy filmmakers to floppy painters and beyond: what drives people to continue working with the medium that is typically deemed obsolete? What challenges and affordances does it provide? And what does the future hold in store for the familiar black square?

By looking at the current presence of past technology we can assess our present-day situation and speculate on the future developments of our media landscape. After all, the technology of the past is also part of our future.

This volume features interviews with key players in the contemporary floppy-disk world, including not only artists and filmmakers using floppy disks in their practice but also businessmen, archivists and museum proprietors working to preserve the medium.

Interviewees include Jason Scott, the founder of archive.org; Tom Persky, founder of floppydisk.com, often dubbed the “last man standing in the floppy disk business”; Florian Cramer; Jason Curtis, founder of the Museum of Obsolete Media; Adam Frankiewicz, founder of Pionierska Records; Foone Turing; Clint Basinger, creator of a YouTube channel called Lazy Game Reviews; Nick Gentry; Joerg Droege and AJ Heller, cofounders of the popular diskmag Scene World; and Bart van den Akker, founder of the Helmond Computer Museum.

With a foreword by Lori Emerson and a preface by Niek Hilkmann.
Includes a glossary by Jason Curtis.

Edited by Niek Hilkmann and Thomas Walskaar

Designed by Thomas Walskaar

Softcover, 160 pages, 61 color images, 8 × 8 inches

Published by Onomatopee, 2022

ISBN: 978-9-49-314886-4