Matter and Memory (2017)
ARTWORKS / POETIC CODE
#text
#textile
#code
#language
#analog
#dataprocessing
#interactive
#weaving
Matter and memory is a reflection on systems of coding, language and memory, in this case, memory as a container of data. It is inspired by the tocapus (pre-columbian textiles), the works by Anni Albers (Codes, 1962) and the magnetic core memories of computers from the 1950s and 60s, where small magnetic cores are arranged in a grid system, intertwined with Copper wires. Following the example of Anni Albers (Codes, 1962), Muñoz expands this systemic grid until it becomes a tapestry, in which each row becomes a five-bit data (25 = 32 permutations) that corresponds to one of the 26 letters of the English alphabet. The public can decode the woven message with a postcard that contains the five-bit binary alphabet, similar to how a CPU would access memory stored in the magnetic core. Muñoz highlights the materiality of computing and how technological evolution has always been a means to achieve human ends.