I am often thinking about the legacies of our digital devices. Objects like the first generation iPhone, the original Amazon Echo smart speaker, and the Minitel are all objects found within the V&A’s collection. Some of these objects are currently displayed in the Design 1900 – Now galleries as switched off static objects. This got me thinking about wanting to see these objects turned on. What would it mean to see these objects turned on or “alive”? How would this impact our perception of technology?
As a masters student in the Conservation of Contemporary Art and Media programme at UCL, I have been thinking about our relationship to technology and how this impacts our attitudes towards the devices we use everyday. This masters program focuses on the conservation of sculpture and installation as well as time-based media art (works that have a durational element such as video-based works, software art and digital born or hybrid works).
For my four month research placement with the Digital and Design Curatorial team, I began to focus my research on the V&A’s collection of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. These are small, connected “smart” devices that connect to the internet to fulfill specific tasks. This technology is often used in smart home accessories such as the Amazon Echo, Google Home and the Ring Doorbell.
The particular object I focused on was the Nabaztag, a cute bunny-shaped device that would act as a virtual assistant. Introduced in 2005 by the French start-up Violet, the Nabaztag is a precursor to the contemporary smart speakers and virtual assistants which have now become ubiquitous within our daily lives. However, despite two subsequent generations (the last one being called Karotz), Violet ceased operations in 2012, effectively ending the “life” of the Nabaztag as all the servers were shut down. The Nabaztag is currently on display in the Design 1900 – Now galleries in a switched off state.
Thinking about technology in two folds: the physical design (hardware) and its digital structure (software)
The Nabaztag’s physical design makes it stand out from other IoT devices due its cute, anthropomorphised appearance: it has moving bunny ears, a face and an array of 3 LEDs that light up when the device is “speaking” through its speaker. Even the name “nabaztag” means ‘hare’ in Armenian and alludes to the friendly design of the device. Its striking design was a major contributing factor to its acquisition into the collection.
The device acted as a very basic virtual assistant and predates the introduction of more modern smart speakers that we have become accustomed to. However, it was still capable of telling the weather, the latest news and it could be linked to your calendar. These functionalities were set up through a website which allowed the user to tailor the device to their needs. During my research, I found a YouTube demo video that showcases the second generation model, the Nabaztag:Tag, which had an additional feature where it could “talk” to other devices with an RFID reader, the same technology used in contactless payment systems.
The YouTube demo video gives a great insight into how the Nabaztag worked and what kind of features it offered. Seeing the Nabaztag functional can give a much fuller picture of what the device actually did. Rather than seeing the object switched off, there are certain elements that must be experienced in order to fully grasp the essence of the Nabaztag. Video documentation such, as this demo video, highlights how keeping a record of these devices being used, or demonstrating their capabilities can have a significant impact on preserving their legacies for the future.
Documentation as a practice of care
Video Documentation has been used by contemporary art conservators, especially within the context of performance-based artworks, as a means to preserve the authentic experience of the live moment. What if we did the same thing to document how the original iPhone worked? Putting emphasis on the digitally hybrid nature of devices, it becomes an interesting provocation to think about our computers and devices as an experience rather than a fixed object.
Furthermore, technological obsolescence is one of the greatest challenges for museums in caring for digital and digitally hybrid objects. The Nabaztag, as with all other Internet of Things devices, relies on a network of back-end servers that were shut down when Violet ceased operations in 2012. Once the servers shut down, the Nabaztag’s functionally was completely lost. However, in 2019, one of the makers of the device, Olivier Mével, created a conversion kit which allowed users to swap the original motherboard with a new one that allowed the Nabaztag to work without relying on a networked server. This effectively “revived” the Nabaztag after its end-of-life in 2012, giving a new opportunity for the Nabaztag to continue having a legacy after a decade of its obsolescence.
It becomes clear that documentation is a very important method of preserving how these devices originally functioned. It requires us to re-think our relationship to technology in order to understand exactly what we are trying to preserve. As digital media ages, it is more challenging to recover lost information. Additionally, with the rapid pace of technological obsolescence, it becomes a pressing matter to begin thinking about our digital cultural heritage and how to preserve it for future generations.
