The Rise and Fall of the Analogue Television Set

This article explores the shifting materiality and meanings of television as an exhibited object. To consider the fluctuating discourses involved in the display of analogue TV sets, the article critically examines how the object has been re-presented: aestheticized, interrogated, destabilised and reorganized as science, modernity, art, and media heritage. An interpretive approach drawing on Walter Benjamin and media archaeology is supported by archival sources. The term “analogue rupture” is introduced to critically assess the implications of, and discontinuities involved, in analogue television’s status as art and heritage. Digital media heritage discourses that invite us to regard obsolescence as inevitable progress are questioned.