Printed radicality

(Short paper)

Keywords: print, publishing, fake, library, digitalisation, plagiarism, wikipedia

The static and unchangeable printed page seems to be hardly considered in years 2010s as a key tool for political and radical strategies, as human beings are constantly looking at a few personal screen-based devices, most of them updated in real time. But there are a few cultural elements in traditional media, which are still playing a decisive role in the circulation of culture. Among them the recognition of their aesthetic “forms,” even if digitised in both design and content. The familiarity with those forms is based on metabolised “interfaces” (we’re all culturally “natives” when it comes to radio, TV, and print) that makes them almost invisible, especially when translated for the digital realm, delivering the content in a more direct way. And since we recognise those forms instinctively, we “trust” them, and so we trust their content.