Archivio #11

Each edition of Italian biannual Archivio collects stories about archives, bringing together a rich mix of materials, practitioners and institutions from around the world to reflect on the ever-evolving nature of archival practices—a quality evident in the magazine’s own publishing process, which sees its themes, editorial team, and design refreshed every four issues. 

This eleventh edition is ‘The Tech Issue,’ and is guest-edited by Massimo Banzi, co-founder of electronic prototyping platform Arduino, and Cecilia Botta, computer historian and Head of Memories at publisher Promemoria. 

Retaining its smart, folio-like format for this third of four issues, it’s again split into three sections: Stories, Institutions and Collectors & Collectives. Together, they map how the tech world—commerce and academia—might archive its history, and asks why tech companies are failing to preserve accessible history, leading to the erasure of storytelling archives from apps and online platforms. Alongside visual taxonomies of game controllers, chips and monitors, there is plenty of ASCII art reflecting Banzi’s introduction letter pointing to ‘50 years of Silicon dreams’.

Inside: how the 1970s Californian hippie culture fed the development of Silicon Valley; how Italian typewriter company Olivetti helped redefine interface design; personal photographs of Steve Jobs in his early Apple days; and a look at Italy’s first computer magazine, Bit.