Patina pleases

Everything new is blank. New things display their integrity and an undestroyed, immaculate surface. Design objects are icons of youth and timelessness. They demand attention in a special way, because their newness is always at risk. Traces like scratches rob them of their stainlessness and indicate a loss of aura. The ageing of these objects triggers a certain horror in their owners, because it shows the passing of newness and a loss of control. Consumer electronics is a particularly instructive example here, and this is in spite of a miraculous ability of electronic content – the ability NOT to age.

But ageing is precious. Aged objects, which can be found on flea markets, in museums or antique shops are often seen as precious. They represent the past, time, and history, and we appreciate the peculiarities of their surface, which has grown over decades. We are not disturbed by dust, grease, grime, wax, scratches, or cracks – on the contrary, the patina of objects represents their depth and their ability to exhibit their own ageing process. The attention of the observer focuses on the materiality of the object, the patina of the surface and the deformations gained in time mark their singularity and individuality. To be precise: The fascination of the observer focuses more on the signs of ageing, rather than on the object itself.

Schoolbag from a flu market

In the digital world, we don’t find comparable qualities. Ageing would mean that data have become corrupt, unreadable, unusable and therefore worthless. For objects digitized by cultural heritage institutions, this is a catastrophe; it means loss. With consumer electronics, it’s similar: A smartphone is devalued by scratches. No gain in singularity is noted. With software, it is even worse. Software ageing is a phenomenon, where the software itself keeps its integrity and functionality, but if the environment, in which this software works, or the operating system changes, the software will create problems and mistakes, and sooner or later it will become dysfunctional. Ageing here means an incapability to adapt to the digital environment, and surprisingly this happens without wear or deterioration, since it is not data corruption which causes this ageing. In this respect, the process of software ageing can be compared to the ageing of human beings: They drag behind time or are uncoupled of the social world they live in; they lose connectivity, the ability of actualisation, and the skill to exchange with their environment.

With analogue objects, this is not the case. They provoke sensual pleasures without reminding the observer of the negative aspects of human ageing. Even if they have become dysfunctional and useless, they keep the dignity and aura of time, inscribed into their body and surface.  They keep their observers at a beneficial distance, which opens up space for imagination and empathy. The observer is free to visualise to himself the history of these objects and their capability to endure long time distances without vanishing – certainly a faculty which human beings do not dispose of. What remains are the characteristics of dignified ageing. While the nasty implications of ageing are buried in oblivion, analogue objects evoke a beauty of ageing.