Encoding and Recording the World

A Historical Journey Through Material Knowledge Systems

Anne-Laure Freant

Across cultures and eras, humans have developed material systems for organizing knowledge long before the emergence of digital technologies.

This first volume of the Datartefact series explores a wide range of material knowledge systems, from Mesopotamian clay tokens and Inca khipus to textile cartographies, autographic photography, analog scientific instruments, databooks, and punched-card systems. Through a combination of historical research and contemporary artistic and design references, the book investigates how humans have repeatedly developed physical forms for encoding, recording, and transmitting knowledge across cultures and eras.

Bringing together artefacts traditionally studied across archaeology, anthropology, media history, cartography, scientific instrumentation, and contemporary design, Encoding and Recording the World approaches these objects as part of a broader material culture of information. Conceived as the opening volume of an ongoing editorial and curatorial research project, the book lays the foundations for future investigations into scientific modelling, material visualization practices, and contemporary forms of data physicalization.

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