WHATNOT is devoted to questioning objects that bring humankind into dialogue with interdisciplinary material culture studies. The material components of an object–its medium and physicality–are key aspects to understanding its cultural significance. Material culture has stretched the boundaries of countless fields namely art history and emphasized new points of contact with other subject matters, including anthropology, archaeology, consumer and mass culture studies, the literary movement “Thing Theory,” and materialist philosophy.
It seeks to publish pertinent information focused on the relationship established between humans and objects, in all of its complexity. Among other things, the series will explore specific object histories, studies of medium, the process of making works of art and studies about the articulation of design to the broader material world that comprises society. It seeks to be a forum for publishing works that serve as historic and contemporary examples of material culture. We aim to shed light upon the way objects manufactured in our societies, broaden or constrain our horizons.
As a print magazine, WHATNOT aims for an advanced model of publication that
encompasses traditional and digital works within the subject matter of material culture. This model hinges on the development of publishing systems that incorporate networked forms of production and circulation. We chose to associate a website to the printed format of the magazine serving as a sidekick of the later. Nonetheless, it could be used as an independent platform containing additional information on the magazine’s contents. By doing so, we hope to produce projects that demand considered reading and viewing of
multiple intertwined objects.
This website serves as a container for the imagery placed in the magazine, combining them with a brief informative explanation (with the sole purpose of conveying context to the reader). We kept the conceptual rationale of the print version which fully creates two separate layers of communication (a textual and pictorial one). Ideally, the reader should use the website to reach out for further information, while reading the print version of WHATNOT. They can, however, decide not to, and feel encouraged to put down their devices, stepping away from the distracting world of bits and pixels, consulting the website whenever they see fit.
