(IN)TANGIBLE HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

This paper presents an emerging line of enquiry where the notion of black box is explored in relation to Leibniz’s monad. It argues that the black box has relationships in conceptual, physical, and philosophical realms, and that once unified, can be the drivers of an experimental, smartphone-based design process. First a broad definition of the “black box” is presented to provide context for the research. This is followed by linking this general understanding of the black box to Leibniz’s concept of the monad as a representation of a particular point of view of the world. An application of this in site-specific design in proposed, whereby the various ‘aura’ of a particular location, Canterbury Cathedral, are captured digitally using a prototype smart phone app, before being instantiated via 3D printing, as a vessel. The paper argues that the ‘aura’ of a historical place can be preserved as this physical artefact; the 21st century vison of pilgrimage and memento, each one bespoke, a singular point of view, and the manifestation of the pilgrim’s / visitor’s temporal, spatial, spectral, and auditory experience of the moment of arrival.