>6 De-materializing (Objects 51-60)

Arguably, one of the main attributes of progress is how it shifts the materiality of things around us. Progress brings along the de-materialization of things: lighter objects, artifacts and machines, replace their heavier, bulky-looking, user-unfriendly predecessors in a seamless cycle that manifests itself only when we look back at how things were. Designing invites us to look through a rear-view mirror. Things evolve along time-based evolutionary sequences capable of morphing what we know, use and love. The history of computing presents a good example: from imposing, heavy processors with limited computing capabilities, to smaller portable devices with ever-versatile features and capabilities: from the Salamis table, or the quipu, to the pocket calculator. Objects 51 to 60 are an eclectic mix of ancient and contemporary moments capable of showing how things around us change in material, cultural and social ways in a non-stop ongoing process. From the lightness of nets to the repugnant and oppressive nature of teenage deterrent sound emitters, objects have the ability of telling their story within larger sets of parameters: the ultra-cane puts research to the good purpose of expanding social progress by enhancing individual lives -just as the clay table or the Salamis table do- while the teenage deterrent puts research in the black list of things that go against the human condition by oppressing individual lives. It would be simplistic to talk about good and bad objects; perhaps we can talk about objects with positive or negative social repercussions.