'Relics of Technology' turns dated gadgets into beautiful things
Photographer Jim Golden's latest project takes yesterday's daily drivers out of thrift stores bargain bins and puts them in the spotlight in gallery-quality photographs and GIFs. The series, titled Relics of Technology, which includes floppy disks, projectors and game controllers, elevates forgotten formats and form factors while underlining the ephemerality of technology. As Golden puts it, "These photos are reminders that progress has a price and our efforts have an expiration date."
We caught up with Golden via email to ask him about the origins of the project and how he got his hands on all of these dinosaurs of innovation. Apparently, it all began with the above image of legacy cell phones. That led to an exploration of "dead media and lost formats."
"Everything now is on your phone, back then we had this kind of interesting shapes and textures to hold all this information, "Golden said. "Now its touch screen, swipe and go!"
Golden pulled a majority of his subjects from thrift stores and crowdsourcing amongst friends, in addition to pieces he'd collected over time. For example, he keeps the brick phone and rotary phone in his Portland, Oregon studio, pointing out that his "kids don't believe me that we ever used them." While that particular statement might make you feel old, it's a reminder of just how far we've come from the days of party line and star 69.
For a glimpse at the complete series, check out Relics of Technology on Golden's site.
