Yima: A Proposition for Archiving Cultural Heritage Through Objects Rather Than Human Subjectivity

Abstract

This paper introduces the Yima Project, initiated by FH Salzburg, V2 and marart.org, that has the ambitious aim of de-anthropocentralising subjective histories for objective futures, by showing events through objects, rather than humans. This research proposes a new archiving method that was developed through the undertaking of a think tank, along with two discreet case studies, in collaboration with the Bosnian National Archive and the London College of Fashion Archive in. Both archives appear democratic in their construction and maintenance, however both experience issues with subjectivity and hierarchal curation dictating what items are privileged and what are hidden from view, in very different socio-political contexts. Most archival approaches interfere with how the public access their content and are based on humans, subjective discourses and political agendas, rather than objective ranking methods for events and objects. Yima aims to reposition such approaches to focus on the objects as the prominent point of access to cultural heritage. Through the integration of an aggregated crowd/cloud strategy (public ranking/machine learning) and Block Chain inspired storage methods, this project proposes a de-anthropocentralised, decentralised and therefore democratic approach to permanent cultural archives that allows the public to build their own subjective discourses through objects and events, rather than through hierarchal powers dictating their construction.

The project is inspired by the Cup of Yima, an ancient mythical cup that was believed to contain all the world’s knowledge and therefore immortality within it, however only the king of Avestan/Persia would ever be able to possess it.