The Digital Wunderkammer

Dr. Hubert Burda, Co-chairman of DLD introduced his book “The Digital Wunderkammer”, “the digital curiosity chamber” he wrote in collaboration with renowned experts like philosopher Peter Sloterdijk and media scientist Bazon Brock. Dr. Burda said that as a publisher he was always interested in how communication affects the brain. In 1981 Roger Sperry discovered the functionality of the two hemispheres of the brain: On the left side, words and text are processed. The right side is dedicated to images and music. Both hemispheres belong together: a combination of two sides of the brain, of images and words. For hundreds of years, image and texts have formed a whole.

When talking about pictures you have to talk about the right framing of pictures as well. When you can’t find a frame, then you speak of inflation of images.

So out of which material are images made? Nowadays the materials resemble more a TV screen or a Windows interface. Whenever there is a new interface, the aesthetic criteria change. That is what happened when the internet came up: At the beginning we thought we could take our magazines and simply publish them online the same way as in the print version. But every new interface, like, for instance, the iPad, has its own aesthetic quality.

Dr. Burda also explained his so called Wunderkammer. “In earlier times, you were talking about the Jewelry Chamber of the Green Vault in Dresden was called a Wunderkammer. In this chamber, the wealthy rulers collected the complete scope of knowledge that was available in their days. Nowadays, Google is a Wunderkammer. What they have done with their search algorithm is an incredible invention like Bachs Fuge or Beethovens Sinfonia”, Dr. Burda said. “And now, all the information we share, what we do is written down on Facebook. Another new Wunderkammer. The digital revolution has changed everything. We are in the same time like in the 1500s when Gutenberg invented the letter press.