Table Of ContentWith a sovereign gesture, Andrés Burbano puts Latin America and the Global South
on the agenda of media archaeological research, at the same time opening up a
perspective for them as exciting and indispensable agents in the deep-time interplay
between the sciences, technology, and the arts. In his case studies, past, presences,
and possible futures meet to form fascinating surprise generators.
—Siegfried Zielinski, Professor Emeritus of Media Theory, Universität
der Künste, Berlin, and author of Deep Time of the Media: Toward an
Archaeology of Hearing and Seeing by Technical Means
With fve case studies, Burbano introduces a world of Latin American innovations
that could potentially alter existing histories of media. Unifying historical research
with experimental design, this book is required reading for scholars and students of
art, media, and design practices and histories.
—María Fernández, Associate Professor of Art History, Cornell University,
Ithaca, and author of Cosmopolitanism in Mexican Visual Culture
Diferent Engines ofers fascinating insights into the history of Latin American media
technology. Beyond this, Burbano proposes a promising new research approach
that not only brings together ideas from STS, art history, media archaeology, and
postcolonial studies, but introduces experimental interaction with historical media
as an indispensable epistemological method.
—Margit Rosen, Head of Collections, Archives & Research at the Zentrum
für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe (ZKM), and editor of A Little-Known
Story About a Movement, a Magazine, and the Computer’s Arrival in Art:
New Tendencies and Bit International, 1961–1973
Diferent Engines: Media Technologies from Latin America constitutes the frst
genuine historical ontology of media artifacts from the much-ignored experience of
the Global South. Whether focusing on early experimentations with analog sound
and image or examining contemporary involvement with computerized media, what
the author fnds in these revealing Latin American cases is a lot of anticipatory,
creative, and alternative technological paths that defy the conventional accounts
and criteria of successful innovation. With Diferent Engines, Burbano emerges as
the premiere decolonial and pluriversal media archaeologist in the world at present.
His “experimental reconstitutions” of past experiences should become an obligatory
passage point for those wishing to engage in similar reconstructions with other
media or in other parts of the South. This eminently readable book will be of great
value to those interested in science and technology studies, media studies, design,
and cultural, decolonial and Latin American Studies.
—Arturo Escobar, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of Designs for the Pluriverse:
Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds
Diferent Engines
Diferent Engines investigates the emergence of technologies in Latin
America to create images, sounds, video games, and physical interactions.
The book contributes to the construction of a historiographical and
theoretical framework for understanding the work of creators who have
been geographically and historically marginalized through the study of fve
exemplary and yet relatively unknown artifacts built by engineers, scientists,
artists, and innovators. It ofers a broad and detailed view of the complex
and sometimes unlikely conditions under which technological innovation is
possible and of the problematic logics under which these innovations may
come to be devalued as historically irrelevant. Through its focus on media
technologies, the book presents the interactions between technological and
artistic creativity, working towards a wider understanding of the shifts
in both felds that have shaped current perceptions, practices, and design
principles while bringing into view the personal, social, and geopolitical
singularities embodied by particular devices. It will be an engaging and
insightful read for scholars, researchers, and students across a wide range
of disciplines, such as media studies, art and design, architecture, cultural
history, and the digital humanities.
Andrés Burbano is Professor in the Arts and Humanities School at the
Open University of Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain) and Visiting Lecturer at
Donau-Universität (Krems, Austria). He holds a Ph.D. in Media Arts and
Technology from the University of California at Santa Barbara (California,
EEUU) and has developed most of his academic career in the School of
Architecture and Design at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia).
Burbano works as a researcher, curator, and interdisciplinary artist. His
research projects focus on media history and media archaeology in Latin
America and the Global South, 3D modeling of archaeological sites, and
computational technologies’ historical and cultural impact. Burbano has
been appointed as ACM SIGGRAPH 2024 Chair.
Research in Design, Technology and Society
Series Editors: Daniel Cardoso Llach (Carnegie Mellon
University, USA) and Terry Knight (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, USA)
The Routledge Research in Design, Technology and Society series ofers
new critical perspectives and creative insights into the roles of technological
systems and discourses in the design and production of our built environ-
ment. As computation, software, simulations, digital fabrication, robotics,
‘big data,’ artifcial intelligence and machine learning confgure new imagi-
naries of designing and making across felds, the series approaches these
subjects critically from enriched socio-material, technical and historical per-
spectives – revealing how conceptions of creativity, materiality and labor
have shifted and continue to shift in conjunction with technological change.
Computer Architectures
Constructing the Common Ground
Edited by Theodora Vardouli and Olga Touloumi
Data Publics
Public Plurality in an Era of Data Determinacy
Edited by Peter Mörtenböck and Helge Mooshammer
The Digital Bespoke?
Promises and Pitfalls of Mass Customization
Ginger Coons
The Architectural Imagination at the Digital Turn
Nathalie Bredella
Diferent Engines
Media Technologies From Latin America
Andrés Burbano
For more information about the series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Research-in-Design-Technology-and-Society/book-series/
RRDTS
Diferent Engines
Media Technologies From
Latin America
Andrés Burbano
Cover image credit: PCB schematic of the Wiring input-output board, 2003.
Courtesy of Hernando Barragán
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Andrés Burbano
The right of Andrés Burbano to be identifed as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-00111-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-00116-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17278-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003172789
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To my daughter, Amelia, and her quest for the golden
glue to stick together her mind and heart.
Contents
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
PART I
Backtracking 15
1 Bioacoustics and Photography, Brazil, 1832 17
2 The Color Wheel of Television History, Mexico, 1939 43
3 COMDASUAR: A Very Personal Computer, Chile, 1978 78
PART II
Sidetracking 113
4 Lua: The Scripting Side of the Moon, Brazil, 1993 115
5 Wiring: Tangible Interaction, Intangible History, Italy,
Colombia, 2003 147
Conclusions 181
Index 201
