Electronic version of Das Kapital (via Flickr)
Published by Jeremy Douglass January 29th, 2006 in Text Art.
Just for fun: an electronic version of “Das Capital,” from the Marx birthplace museum in Trier, Germany.
It is amazing how material an electronic version can be - monumental, even. The heavy frame of the design and the monolithic black title plate seem to weigh down the electrons, to keep them from flying away. Something about the insistently material ebook makes me want to contrast it with either William Gibson’s “Agrippa” or with John McDaid’s “Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse.”
The use of two facing-page screens in a faux-book is also interesting - I wonder if the display is paginated and reveals two full pages of text at a time, as in the turning of virtual pages, or if there is some other kind of interface (menus, etc.) - there is no obvious way to interact except through touchscreen.
What is the exchange value of information? That is, what is the exchange value of something that, when I give it to you, I still have it?
If I remember correctly you can read a couple of pages but not the whole thing via the touchscreen. I guess it is just meant as a gadget…
the Marx Museum in Trier is pretty good by the way, worth a visit.
daniel